"It's me, Biddy dear."
There was a soft laugh that ended in a sigh. "It is so long since anybody called me that."
"I wouldn't dare to with you looking at me."
"Am I so formidable of aspect? But go on."
"It's not so easy. But I've had an awful morning. Everybody I like best down on me like bricks and m——" The speaker gulped a sob.
"You are crying, dear!"
"Not a drop. But if you join in the heckling I shall dribble away and dissolve in salt water. It's all about those wretched paragraphs of mine in the Siege Gazette. But perhaps you haven't seen it?"
"I have seen it."
"You were quite willing that the fiançailles should be made public.... Indeed, you gave me to understand you desired it."
"I was quite willing. I did wish it."