EDWIN. Well, perhaps she isn’t quite so pretty as she used to be.
MRS. P. Pretty? She never was that. She once had a passable figure.
EDWIN. An exquisite figure.
MRS. P. Do you think so? What extraordinary taste you men have! Anyhow, she’s gone off.
EDWIN. (jumping up) Gone off! What, with Captain Plunger?
MRS. P. Ha, ha, ha! You didn’t think he’d run away with her? I meant, gone off in looks.
EDWIN. Oh. (drops again into a chair)
MRS. P. By the way, the captain is here: came by the same train as we did: and we all know how she’s angled for him.
EDWIN. I don’t though, I’m sure.
MRS. P. You don’t know how Miss Darlington has angled after Captain Plunger? Why, where ever have you been this five years? It’s the talk of the whole regiment. So that there was some reason for your exclamation, though not much; for any one at all acquainted with the parties would be quite sure Captain Plunger wouldn’t run away with Ethel Darlington.