“She’s rather delicious.”

“When is she coming to see me?”

“At any moment, but she’s a will-o’-the-wisp. She comes and goes as she wills.”

“She’s slight, then?”

“Oh, slight! You could pull her through a ring.”

Marcus was glad of that.

“Now tell me about your dear self, Marcus.”

There was so little to tell, he said.

“Not when everything interests me—Give me a cigarette.”

“But you used not to—” he began, handing her his cigarette case.