The Harveys had a gift for putting guests at ease, the gift being a cellar full of thirty-year-old bourbon the elder Harvey had bequeathed them at the end of their adjustment period.
The talk moved here and there, over the bourbon, Alice sharing in it rarely, though nodding when Joe was talking.
Then, at mention of someone or other, Mrs. Harvey said tolerantly, "Well, none of us are perfect, I guess."
Alice smiled and answered, "Some of us are satisfied with mediocrities in marriage."
Mrs. Harvey frowned doubtfully. "I don't quite understand, dear. In any marriage, there has to be adjustment. Dan and I, for example, have adjusted very well."
"You haven't adjusted," Alice said smilingly. "You've surrendered."
Joe coughed up half a glass of bourbon, Dan turned a sort of red-green and Mrs. Harvey stared with her mouth open. Alice smiled.
Finally, Mrs. Harvey said, "Well, I never—"
"Of all the—" Dan Harvey said.
Joe rose and said, "Must get to bed, got to get to bed."