"Well, then, you can't do without me. It's a compact, isn't it, that we don't keep things back?"
As for Mrs. Levitt's handling of their theme they resented it as an abominable profanation.
"Do you think he's in love with her?" Barbara said.
"What he would call being in love and we shouldn't."
"Do you think he's like that—he's always been like that?"
"I think he was probably 'like that' when he was young."
"Before he married Fanny?"
"Before he married Fanny."
"And after?"
"After, I should imagine he went pretty straight. It was only the way he had when he was young. Now he's middle-aged he's gone back to it, just to prove to himself that he's young still. I take it the poor old thing got scared when he found himself past fifty, and he had to start a proof. It's his egoism all over again. I don't suppose he really cares a rap for Mrs. Levitt."