"Don't be upstage. You know it's priceless. Why didn't you tell me your Bel was such a lamb?"
"He's not my Bel any more, and I don't consider him a lamb."
"Then I presume you've no objection to my vamping him?"
"None whatever, if it amuses you, dear. But why waste your powder on such small game? Any pretty piece can vamp Bel. I'm not sure she need even be pretty."
"Only for your sake, darling. I don't fancy the brute, thanks."
"For my sake?"
"Don't you see through his little game? He's out here to persuade you he's a changed man, a reformed character, and beg you to take him back on probation."
"Then he's far stupider than I imagined."
"Whereas if he falls for my girlish wiles, I'll have shown him up in all his deceitfulness."
"Don't put yourself out on my account." Lucinda curled a lip. "I wouldn't take Bel back no matter how absolute his reformation."