"I'll do my best. Sit down."
She fell back and hid herself behind her fan.
"Let me tell you that you have positively become a very ... a very beautiful woman. Now is that like a compliment?"
"It sounds more like one."
"Well, it's the best I can do, you know. So you must make the most of it. And now tell me about Rome. How were you living there?"
"Why should I tell you about it?"
"Because I'm interested."
"You have no need to be interested."
"I dare say, but I happen to be. I've never quite forgotten you. And I should be surprised if you had me."
"I have, quite," she said, coolly.