"But it's good to look back on now it's over. Helps one to appreciate. When you're feeling dull now, you can drive round here and have a chat with a friend, and say, 'Well, it used to be much worse—I used to be poor.' Isn't that so?"
She nodded helplessly. Her mind was strained to find another subject.
"I wish you'd come round to dinner with me one evening, if you've nothing better to do?"
"I'm not going out very much just now," she demurred. "I—-"
"It'd be a charity, I'm all alone, and—by the way, I don't know if 'Miss Barton' is just your literary name now? If there is a lucky man, I hope he will give me the pleasure, too?"
"No, I'm not married," she said.
"Like me, you've been too busy. You know, I really think our victories should be fêted. It'd be friendly of you to come. You can find one evening free before I go back?"
"I suppose," she said, trying to laugh, "I'm not so full of engagements that I can't do that!"
And, though neither of them had foreseen the invitation, she was pledged to dine with him. Heavily she reflected that, when the dinner finished, she would be obliged to ask him to send for a taxi and that it would probably cost her a half-crown.