"I only asked for information. There's no denying that there are members of your sex who rather incline to our poor way of doing things. Oh, not that we are not a bad lot; only, to be our equals, it isn't necessary to sit in the gutter with us. Continue to be our sup—"
"Let's cut out bromides," she said. "You (I, also, speak generically)—"
"Thanks so much!"
"—have pulled enough of your 'superiors' down to share your gutter. It's time now for men to get out of the gutter and come up to us."
"You breathe such rarefied air," he objected. He really wished that on a day of such limpid loveliness she would stop undressing life. He liked to be amused, but once in a while Frederica was just a little too amusing, and he was in the faintest degree bored, as one is bored by a delightful and obstreperous child. He gazed dreamily into the spring haze, watched a ripple spread over the lake, and noted a leaning willow dip its flowing fingers into the water.
"Did you see that fish jump?" he asked.
Frederica gave a disgusted grunt. "Men are all alike. You talk common sense to them and they go to sleep!"
"DID YOU SEE THAT FISH JUMP?" HE ASKED. FREDERICA
GAVE A DISGUSTED GRUNT