SYLVESTER.
You have no need to be. [With admiration.] And in your pre-eminence resides my safety, Margery.
MARGERY.
I’m not Margery now!
SYLVESTER [seriously].
I ask Mrs. Cazenove’s pardon. [In a casual tone] You don’t object to the collaboration, then?
MARGERY.
I think it’s fun! They are so serious over it. As if the world depended on a book! As if there were no Providence or anything, and they two had to keep creation going by scratching upon little bits of paper! I love to watch them, biting at their pens, and staring at that little crack up there. [Looking at the ceiling. Sylvester looks also.] I often think to myself, you may well look—there’s something there that’ll keep the world going round, just as it is, long after your precious book is dust and ashes.
SYLVESTER.
Then you do watch them, Margery—Mrs. Cazenove?