_E._ (_pensively_). Yes. _H._ (_with attention_). You are not quite the same, then? I should not have known it. _E._ (_with emphasis_). Wouldn’t you, really? _H._ Unfortunately for me—no. _E._ No, I am not the same. _H._ (_in a low tone_). Will you tell me how you have changed? _E._ (_after a pause_). I have grown stout! Yes, I have. I have gained twenty pounds in the four years you have been away. _H._ (_laughing_). The inference pains me deeply. But twenty pounds can be judiciously distributed without actual injury to the possessor. Is there anything else? _E._ (_sentimentally_). Ah, yes, when I am introduced to a new man I no longer expect to find him a mine of entertainment. I used to. Now I am surprised if I have not to be clever for both of us. _H._ Is that so new? (_Thoughtfully._) I sometimes think I was stupid for both of us—or—could it have been only that you were too wise? (_Aside._) Oh, this fatal tendency to reminiscence—and I know better! _E._ (_with a slight effort_). You are carrying me too far back. I am marking my progress since I saw you. (_Aside._) Certainly this is too much like burrowing in the leaves of a dead past. No wonder he did not wait until to-morrow. _H._ Forgive me, and go on with the disillusionments. [Illustration: [Couple]] _E._ Sadder yet, I no longer care when a younger and a fairer girl “cuts me out,” to put it boldly. I think I shall, you know, but I don’t. I sigh—but I forget them—_both_! _H._ This shows a callousness really alarming. You might at least reserve the guiltier party for future punishment. Perfidy merits at least remembrance. It is sometimes a man’s last hold. _E._ (_carelessly_). A man should risk little on so commonplace a resource—if one wishes to be remembered, one should be unusual. Besides, you would imply that the man is the guiltier party? _H._ Only as far as his lights are taken into consideration, of course. Man is a poor creature at his best—in comparison. _E._ And sometimes a comparatively innocent one. To find another woman more attractive is blamable, but to be a more attractive woman ought to be unpardonable. _H._ “To err is human—fiendish to outshine.” I understand. (_With marked politeness._) Permit me to suggest that it is rarely—— _E._ (_laughing_). But I have said I have lost my capacity for feeling thrusts of this kind. (_In a lower tone._) At least, I believed that I had. _H._ (_dryly_). I was always a little unfortunate in my attempts to make amends—always too late, perhaps. _E._ (_meeting his eyes_). Yes, making amends was never your forte. _H._ Any more than cherishing illusions is yours. But, pray, go on with your revelations. I must improve the unexpected pleasure of finding you alone. _E._ (_a little embarrassed_). Whom, then, did you expect to find here? (_Aside._) He cannot have known that Dr. Tennant is coming. (_Aloud._) Who would interfere, did you think, with the personal welcome you so desired?