'Lucy Rainbow?'
'No, not Lucy Rainbow.'
'Now who else was there? I cannot remember them all. Ah, I remember now. It wasn't Lilian, after all?'
'No, poor Lilian died ten years ago. I am afraid you don't know my wife. I don't think you ever met.'
'It isn't Edith Appleblossom, surely? Is it?'
'No, I ...' and then I stopped just in time! 'No, you don't know my wife, I'm sure, and if you don't mind my saying so, I think I had better not introduce you. Forgive me, but she wouldn't quite understand you, I fear....'
'Wouldn't quite approve, eh?' said he, with a merry laugh. 'Poor old chap!'
'Well, I'm better off than that,' he continued. 'Why, Doll and I love for a week, and then forget each other's names in a twelvemonth, when Poll comes along, and so on. And neither of us is any the worse, believe me. We're one as fickle as the other, so where's the harm?'
'Ah, my dear fellow, you did make a mistake,' he ran on. 'I suppose you forget Robert Louis' advice—"Times are changed with him who marries," etc.'
'He's married himself,' I replied.