"About half my age."
"Oh, she'd catch up fast enough. She's quite mature."
"Much too attractive for an old husband, thank you. That way trouble lies—as you know!"
"Thanks, yourself!" She thrust out her tongue at him in an impudent, childish grimace. "Perhaps you'd prefer Mary Delia."
"I understand Dee better than I do Connie."
"Do you? It's more than I do. She's devilish frank about other people but she never gives herself away."
"That's what I like about her."
"You really are quite chummy with her, aren't you?" said the mother, looking at him curiously. "But that's because you're so much older. She doesn't care much about men really."
"She's unawakened. There's hot blood under that cool skin."