XVI.
A QUICK CHANGE.
'Why not go with Archie?' I asked, spreading out my hands.
'It will be dull enough, anyhow,' said Dolly fretfully. 'Besides, it's awfully bourgeois to go to the theatre with one's husband.'
'Bourgeois,' I observed, 'is an epithet which the riff-raff apply to what is respectable, and the aristocracy to what is decent.'
'But it's not a nice thing to be, all the same,' said Dolly, who is impervious to the most penetrating remark.
'You're in no danger of it,' I hastened to assure her.
'How should you describe me, then?' she asked, leaning forward, with a smile.
'I should describe you, Lady Mickleham,' I replied discreetly, 'as being a little lower than the angels.'
Dolly's smile was almost a laugh as she asked,—
'How much lower, please, Mr. Carter?'
'Just by the depth of your dimples,' said I thoughtlessly.
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