CAPT. G. What's the trouble, darling? I can't promise any more than I have; but I'll promise that again and again if you like. MRS. G. (_Her head on his shoulder._) _Say_ it, then--say it! N-no--don't! The--the--eagles would laugh. (_Recovering._) My husband, you've married a little goose. CAPT. G. (_Very tenderly._) Have I? I am content whatever she is, so long as she is mine. MRS. G. (_Quickly._) Because she is yours or because she is me mineself? CAPT. G. Because she is both. (_Piteously._) I'm not clever, dear, and I don't think I can make myself understood properly. MRS. G. _I_ understand. Pip, will you tell me something? CAPT. G. Anything you like. (_Aside._) I wonder what's coming now. MRS. G. (_Haltingly, her eyes lowered._) You told me once in the old days--centuries and centuries ago--that you had been engaged before. I didn't say anything--_then._ CAPT. G. (_Innocently._) Why not? MRS. G. (_Raising her eyes to his._) Because--because I was afraid of losing you, my heart. But now--tell about it--_please._ CAPT. G. There's nothing to tell. I was awf'ly old then--nearly two and twenty--and she was _quite_ that. MRS. G. That means she was older than you. I shouldn't like her to have been younger. Well? CAPT. G. Well, I fancied myself in love and raved about a bit, and--oh, yes, by Jove! I made up poetry. Ha! Ha! MRS. G. You never wrote any for _me!_ What happened? CAPT. G. I came out here, and the whole thing went _phut._ She wrote to say that there had been a mistake, and then she married. MRS. G. Did she care for you much? CAPT. G. No. At least she didn't show it as far as I remember. MRS. G. As far as you remember! Do you remember her name? (_Hears it and bows her head._) Thank you, my husband. CAPT. G. Who but you had the right? Now, Little Featherweight, have you ever been mixed up in any dark and dismal tragedy? MRS. G. If you call me Mrs. Gadsby, p'raps I'll tell. CAPT. G. (_Throwing Parade rasp into his voice._) Mrs. Gadsby, confess! MRS. G. Good Heavens, Phil! I never knew that you could speak in that terrible voice. CAPT. G. You don't know half my accomplishments yet. Wait till we are settled in the Plains, and I'll show you how I bark at my troop. You were going to say, darling? MRS. G. I--I don't like to, after that voice. (_Tremulously._) Phil, never you _dare_ to speak to me in that tone, whatever I may do! CAPT. G. My poor little love! Why, you're shaking all over. I _am_ so sorry. Of course I never meant to upset you. Don't tell me anything. I'm a brute. MRS. G. No, you aren't, and I _will_ tell--There was a man. CAPT. G. (_Lightly._) Was there? Lucky man! MRS. G. (_In a whisper._) And I thought I cared for him. CAPT. G. Still luckier man! Well? MRS. G. And I thought I cared for him--and I didn't--and then you came--and I cared for you very, _very_ much indeed. That's all. (_Face hidden._) You aren't angry, are you?