"How on earth do you go on?"
"I shut my eyes. And I sit tight. And I go."
"Poor Kiddy. You give me a pain."
"I'm quite happy. I'm working like ten horses to get things done while I can." She smiled indomitably. "I'm glad Tanks didn't care for me. I couldn't have let him in for all these—horrors. As for his marrying—I didn't want you to have him because he wouldn't have been good for you, but I did want Jinny to."
"And you don't mind—now?"
"There are so many things to mind. It's one nail driving out another."
"It's all the nails being hammered in at once, into your little coffin," said Nina. She drew closer to her, she put her arms round her and kissed her.
"Oh, don't! Don't be sorry for me. I'm all right."
She broke from Nina's hand that still caressed her.
"I am, really," she said. "I like Jinny better than anybody in the world except you and Tanks. And I like Nina better than all the Tankses that ever were."