"Indeed he doesn't," said Dodo. "The other day he was talking to me, and I simply kept on smiling when I was thinking of something quite different, and he thought I was adorably sympathetic. And, besides, I am not a fool either. He is far too happy for me to believe that he is not satisfied." "Well, but you'll have to keep it up," said Jack. "Don't you see I'm not objecting to your theory of marriage in itself--though I think it's disgusting--but it strikes me that you have got the wrong sort of man to experiment upon. It might do very well if he was like you." "Jack, you sha'n't lecture me," said Dodo; "I shall do precisely as I like. Have you ever known me make a fool of myself? Of course you haven't. Well, if I was going to make a mess of this, it would be contrary to all you or anyone else knows of me. I'm sorry I asked your opinion at all. I didn't think you would be so stupid." "You told me to tell you what I thought," said Jack in self-defence. "I offered to say what you wanted, or to congratulate or condole or anything else; it's your own fault, and I wish I'd said it was charming and delightful, and just what I had always hoped." Dodo laughed. "I like to see you cross, Jack," she remarked, "and now we'll be friends again. Remember what you have said to-day--we shall see in time who is right, you or I. If you like to bet about it you may--only you would lose. I promise to tell you if you turn out to be right, even if you don't see it, which you must if it happens, which it won't, so you won't," she added with a fine disregard of grammar. Jack was silent. "Jack, you are horrible," said Dodo impatiently, "you don't believe in me one bit. I believe you are jealous of Chesterford; you needn't be." Then he interrupted her quickly. "Ah, Dodo, take care what you say. When you say I needn't be, it implies that you are not going to do your share. I want to be jealous of Chesterford, and I am sorry I am not. If I thought you loved him, or would ever get to love him, I should be jealous. I wish to goodness I was. Really, if you come to think of it, I am very generous. I want this to be entirely a success. If there is one man in the world who deserves to be happy it is Chesterford. He is not brilliant, he does not even think he is, which is the best substitute. It doesn't much matter how hard you are hit if you are well protected. Try to make him conceited--it is the best you can do for him." He said these words in a low tone, as if he hardly wished Dodo to hear. But Dodo did hear. "You don't believe in me a bit," she said. "Never mind, I will force you to. That's always the way--as long as I amuse you, you like me well enough, but you distrust me at bottom. A woman's a bore when she is serious. Isn't it so? Because I talk nonsense you think I am entirely untrustworthy about things that matter." Dodo struck the ground angrily with the point of her parasol.