"I know all about it."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, I've been told; but would you mind leaving all that sort of thing until we get to your--wretched rooms? Let us, while we are in the cab, be frivolous; couldn't you be frivolous?"
"I've forgotten how to be."
"I believe you smiled."
"If I did it was the sort of smile with which you meet the dentist when he's going to play tricks with your teeth."
"It's some time since I was frivolous; it's rather hard that now, after all this time, I'm in a mood to frivol, you won't. Couldn't you try? For instance, you seem to have forgotten that I possess a name; couldn't you start by calling me Violet? I suppose it would be too much to expect you to get as far, at the start, as Vi?" There was silence. "Well, are you trying?"
"I'm trying not to."
"Thank you very much; does it require much effort?"
"All my strength."