“Why?”
“To test whether I am awake. Have I really heard a sane and educated lady expressing her belief in the visions of a crystal-gazing adventuress?”
“You have. She believes firmly. So do heaps of women.”
“I hope to heaven you don't!” he cried with a sudden intensity.
“What concern can my faith be to you?” she asked.
“I beg your pardon. No concern at all,” he said apologetically. “But I generally blurt out what is in my mind.”
“And what is in your mind? I am a person you can be quite frank with.”
“I could n't bear the poem of your life to be sullied by all these vulgarities,” said Jimmie.
“As I remarked to you the first evening I met you, Mr. Padgate,” she said, holding out her hand by way of dismissal, “you are an astonishing person!”
The poem of her life! The phrase worried her before she slept that night. She shook the buzzing thing away from her impatiently. The poem of her life! The man was a fool.