"And what do you think now?"
"Ah, I don't know. You had better go as the Sphinx."
Imogene laughed in simple gaiety of heart.
"How far we've got from the ball!" she said, as if the remote excursion were a triumph. "What shall we really go as?"
"Isis and Osiris."
"Weren't they gods of some kind?"
"Little one-horse deities—not very much."
"It won't do to go as gods of any kind. They're always failures. People expect too much of them."
"Yes," said Colville. "That's human nature under all circumstances. But why go to an Egyptian ball at all?"
"Oh, we must go. If we both stayed away it would make talk at once, and my object is to keep people in the dark till the very last moment. Of course it's unfortunate your having told Mrs. Amsden that you were going away, and then telling her just after you came back with me that you were going to stay. But it can't be helped now. And I don't really care for it. But don't you see why I want you to go to all these things?"