DI," said Archie, sauntering up to her on the terrace at Cantalupe, where she was sitting the morning after the ball, and planting himself in front of her, as he had a habit of doing before all women, so as to spare them the trouble of turning round to look at him, "I can't swallow little Crupps."
"No one wants you to," said Di. "If you don't like her, you had better leave her alone."
"Women are not meant to be let alone," said Archie, yawning, "except the ugly ones."
"Well, Miss Crupps is not pretty."
"No, but she is gilt up to the eyes. Poor eyes, too, and light eyelashes. I could not marry light eyelashes."
"I am glad to hear it."
"Oh! I know you don't care a straw whether I settle well or not. You never have cared. Women are all alike. There's not a woman in the world, or a man either, who cares a straw what becomes of me."
"Or you what becomes of them."
"John's just as bad as the rest," continued the victim of a worldly age. "And John and I were great chums in old days. But it is the way of the world."