"
"Well, it struck me that she was getting moped, and beginning to
settle down, which wouldn't suit her a bit. The first symptom
that I noticed was when she began to complain that we were living
beyond our income. All decent people live beyond their incomes
nowadays, and those who aren't respectable live beyond other
peoples. A few gifted individuals manage to do both."
"It's hardly so much a gift as an industry."
"The crisis came," returned Clovis, "when she suddenly started the
theory that late hours were bad for one, and wanted me to be in by
one o'clock every night. Imagine that sort of thing for me, who
was eighteen on my last birthday."
"On your last two birthdays, to be mathematically exact."
"Oh, well, that's not my fault. I'm not going to arrive at
nineteen as long as my mother remains at thirty-seven. One must
have some regard for appearances."
"Perhaps your mother would age a little in the process of settling
down."
"That's the last thing she'd think of. Feminine reformations
always start in on the failings of other people. That's why I was
so keen on the husband idea."
"Did you go as far as to select the gentleman, or did you merely
throw out a general idea, and trust to the force of suggestion?"
"If one wants a thing done in a hurry one must see to it oneself.
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