"Wear? Oh! At the ball! Something Egyptian, I suppose. It's to be an Egyptian ball. Didn't you understand that?"
"Oh yes. But I supposed you could go in any sort of dress."
"You can't. You must go in some Egyptian character."
"How would Moses do? In the bulrushes, you know. You could be Pharaoh's daughter, and recognise me by my three hats. And toward the end of the evening, when I became very much bored, I could go round killing Egyptians."
"No, no. Be serious. Though I like you to joke, too. I shall always want you to joke. Shall you, always?"
"There may be emergencies when I shall fail—like family prayers, and grace before meat, and dangerous sickness."
"Why, of course. But I mean when we're together, and there's no reason why you shouldn't?"
"Oh, at such times I shall certainly joke."
"And before people, too! I won't have them saying that it's sobered you—that you used to be very gay, and now you're cross, and never say anything."
"I will try to keep it up sufficiently to meet the public demand."