Curwen, getting his wife aside: “When you fainted, Caroline, who revived you?”
Mrs. Curwen: “Who? Me? Oh! How should I know? I was insensible.” They wheel arm in arm, and meet Mr. and Mrs. Miller in the middle. Mrs. Curwen yields precedence with an ironical courtesy: “After you, Mrs. Miller!”
Mrs. Miller, in a nervous, inimical twitter: “Oh, before the heroine of the lost elevator?”
Mrs. Curwen, dropping her husband’s arm, and taking Mrs. Miller’s: “Let us split the difference.”
Mrs. Miller: “Delightful! I shall never forget the honor.”
Mrs. Curwen: “Oh, don’t speak of honors! Mr. Miller was so kind through all those terrible scenes in the elevator.”
Mrs. Miller: “I’ve no doubt you showed yourself duly grateful.” They pass in, followed by their husbands.
Young Mr. Bemis, timidly: “Miss Lawton, in the elevator you asked me not to leave you. Did you—ah—mean—I must ask you; it may be my only chance; if you meant—never?”
Miss Lawton, dropping her head: “I—I—don’t—know.”
Young Mr. Bemis: “But if I wished never to leave you, should you send me away?”