‘What! After you’ve refused him?’
‘He doesn’t mind that. It seems to cheer him to mention the subject. Old men are like that, you know. It makes them feel important to think they’re in love with somebody.’
‘The colonel would marry you in a minute. I hope you won’t marry some old fellow; not even a rich one.’ Lena shifted her pillows and looked up at me in surprise.
‘Why, I’m not going to marry anybody. Didn’t you know that?’
‘Nonsense, Lena. That’s what girls say, but you know better. Every handsome girl like you marries, of course.’
She shook her head. ‘Not me.’
‘But why not? What makes you say that?’ I persisted.
Lena laughed.
‘Well, it’s mainly because I don’t want a husband. Men are all right for friends, but as soon as you marry them they turn into cranky old fathers, even the wild ones. They begin to tell you what’s sensible and what’s foolish, and want you to stick at home all the time. I prefer to be foolish when I feel like it, and be accountable to nobody.’
‘But you’ll be lonesome. You’ll get tired of this sort of life, and you’ll want a family.’