"Ah, well," she said petulantly. "I don't see what difference it makes. Anyway, I'm bored. Aren't you going to be any more amusing than this at Guenn Oaks?"
"I'm not coming to Guenn Oaks."
"Who are you to say what you are or are not going to do—Slave?" she said with her most imperious air.
At the tone, he rallied a difficult smile. "I'm the Honest Workingman. Whereas you are—" he spread his hands out in a suave gesture, which was exceedingly displeasing to Little Miss Grouch—"a mirage."
"A mirage?" she repeated.
"The Eternally Unattainable."
"Long words always make my head ache."
"I'll state it mathematically. If you concentrate your powerful intellect upon the problem you will perceive that two plus two equals four."
"In that faith I live and die! But what it has to do with Bertie Guenn's invitation—"
"The sum proves up equally when raised to thousands, or millions."