"What do you expect of a movie actor, Mrs. Druce?"
"Mrs. Lee, please."
"Beg pardon: Mrs. Lee."
"And you'll keep my horrid secret, won't you?"
"If you knew how complimented I feel, you'd know I would die several highly disagreeable deaths before I'd let you think me unworthy of your confidence."
"That's very sweet," Lucinda considered with mischievous gravity. "And I am most appreciative. But if you will persist in playing on my susceptibilities so ardently, Mr. Summerlad, I'll have to go to bed."
"Please sit still: I'll be good."
"No, but seriously," Lucinda insisted, rising: "it is late, and I want to wake up early, I don't want to miss anything of this wonderful country."
"You won't see anything in the morning but desert, the edge of the Mojave."
"But we've been in the desert all afternoon and I adore it."