“You’ve been Miss Minerva Partridge?”
“Yes.”
“So long as that?”
“Yes, indeed. Mr. Vivian, during that time I have been leading a double life.”
The Prophet remembered the other double life beside the borders of the River Mouse, and began to wonder if he were acquainted with any human being who led a single one.
“Many people do that,” he remarked rather aimlessly.
Lady Enid looked vexed.
“I did not say I had a monopoly of the commodity,” she rejoined, evidently wishing that she had.
“Oh, no,” said the Prophet, making things worse; “one meets people who live double lives every day, I might almost say every hour.”
The clock had just struck four, and he had begun to think of five. Lady Enid’s pleasant plumpness began rapidly to disappear.