"Then the whole thing is simple. I don't see what you've been worrying about."
"Just what I keep telling him, Mr. Bevan," said Alice.
"You're a perfectly free agent. She has no hold on you of any kind."
Reggie Byng blinked dizzily.
"Why, now you put it like that," he exclaimed, "I can see that I jolly well am! It's an amazing thing, you know, habit and all that. I've been so accustomed for years to jumping through hoops and shamming dead when the mater lifted a little finger, that it absolutely never occurred to me that I had a soul of my own. I give you my honest word I never saw it till this moment."
"And now it's too late!"
"Eh?"
George indicated Alice with a gesture. The newly-made Mrs. Byng smiled.
"Mr. Bevan means that now you've got to jump through hoops and sham dead when I lift a little finger!"
Reggie raised her hand to his lips, and nibbled at it gently.