"I think that's very possible."
"I think so also; alas! that it should be so."
"You may well say, alas!"
"You are right; I may."
She was silent, her lips twitching, as if with impatience or scorn.
"My acquaintance with the world is but a slight one, Mr Morice; and, unfortunately, in one respect it has been of an almost uniform kind. I have learned to associate with the idea of a man something not agreeable. I hoped, at one time, that you would prove to be a variation; but you haven't. That is why, in admitting that I did understand you a little, I think that you were justified in saying, alas!"
"That, however, is not why I said it, as I should have imagined you would have surmised; although I admire the ingenuity with which you present your point of view. But, may I ask if you have ordered me to present myself at Wyche Cross with the intention of favouring me with neatly turned remarks on the subject of men in general and of myself in particular?"
"You know I haven't."
"I am waiting to know it."
"I had not thought that anyone fashioned in God's image could play so consummately the hypocrite."