LADY KITTY. Yes, they ask you to come and see them when they're quite certain no one will be there who might object to meeting you. Or else they say to you: "My dear, you know I'm devoted to you, and I wouldn't mind at all, but my girl's growing up--I'm sure you understand; you won't think it unkind of me if I don't ask you to the house?" ELIZABETH. [_Smiling._] That doesn't seem to me very serious. LADY KITTY. At first I thought it rather a relief, because it threw Hughie and me together more. But you know, men are very funny. Even when they are in love they're not in love all day long. They want change and recreation. ELIZABETH. I'm not inclined to blame them for that, poor dears. LADY KITTY. Then we settled in Florence. And because we couldn't get the society we'd been used to we became used to the society we could get. Loose women and vicious men. Snobs who liked to patronise people with a handle to their names. Vague Italian Princes who were glad to borrow a few francs from Hughie and seedy countesses who liked to drive with me in the Cascine. And then Hughie began to hanker after his old life. He wanted to go big game shooting, but I dared not let him go. I was afraid he'd never come back. ELIZABETH. But you knew he loved you. LADY KITTY. Oh, my dear, what a blessed institution marriage is--for women, and what fools they are to meddle with it! The Church is so wise to take its stand on the indi--indi-- ELIZABETH. Solu-- LADY KITTY. Bility of marriage. Believe me, it's no joke when you have to rely only on yourself to keep a man. I could never afford to grow old. My dear, I'll tell you a secret that I've never told a living soul. ELIZABETH. What is that? LADY KITTY. My hair is not naturally this colour. ELIZABETH. Really. LADY KITTY. I touch it up. You would never have guessed, would you? ELIZABETH. Never. LADY KITTY. Nobody does. My dear, it's white, prematurely of course, but white. I always think it's a symbol of my life. Are you interested in symbolism? I think it's too wonderful. ELIZABETH. I don't think I know very much about it. LADY KITTY. However tired I've been I've had to be brilliant and gay. I've never let Hughie see the aching heart behind my smiling eyes. ELIZABETH. [_Amused and touched._] You poor dear. LADY KITTY. And when I saw he was attracted by some one else the fear and the jealousy that seized me! You see, I didn't dare make a scene as I should have done if I'd been married--I had to pretend not to notice. ELIZABETH. [_Taken aback._] But do you mean to say he fell in love with anyone else? LADY KITTY. Of course he did eventually. ELIZABETH. [_Hardly knowing what to say._] You must have been very unhappy.