"True. Still, a female friend or two is an indispensable part of a married woman's outfit. The Lucys mayn't mind, but their friends may regard the omission as peculiar. Then--you have charming manners, I know--but your speech is apt, at times, to be a little, what shall I say? Unfettered. The other day, when you were annoyed with me, you called me a beast." "That's nothing. I might have called you something much worse." "You might. Happily, you did not. I've no objection to the word; it can be used as a delicate endearment, but in your mouth it loses any tender grace it might have had." "I'm sorry, Wilfrid." "Don't apologise. _I_ didn't mind. But if you call Lucy a beast he won't like it." "I couldn't. Besides, I shall be very careful." "You will have to be extremely careful. The Lucys live in Hampstead, I believe, and Hampstead enjoys the reputation of being the most respectable suburb of London. You've no idea of the sort of people you'll have to meet there. You'll terrify them, and they, my poor Kitten, will exterminate you. You don't know what respectability is like." "I don't care. I can stand anything." "You think you can. I _know_ that you won't be able to stand it for a fortnight. You'll find that the air of Hampstead doesn't agree with you. And wherever you go it'll be the same thing. You had very much better stick to me." "To you?" "You'll be safer and happier. If you'll stay with me----" "I never have--stayed--with you." "No, but I'd like you to." He was not going to make love to her. He was far too clever for that. He knew that with a woman like Kitty, in Kitty's state of mind, he had nothing to gain by making love. Neither did he propose to pit his will against hers. That course had answered well enough in the time of his possession of her. Passion, which was great in her, greater than her will, made his will powerless over her. His plan was to match the forces of her brain with superior, with overwhelming forces. He continued coldly. "I'm not satisfied with the present arrangement any more than you are. If you'll stay with me you shall live where you choose; only don't choose Park Lane, for I can't afford it. I'll give you any mortal thing I _can_ afford." "You think you can give me what Robert Lucy's giving me?" "I can give you a home, Kitty, as long as you'll live in it. I can give you the advantages of marriage without its drawbacks. You won't be tied to me a minute longer than you like. Whereas you can't leave Lucy without a scandal." "You think that a safe arrangement, do you? I can leave you when I want to." "You can leave me any day. So the chances are that you won't want to." "And when you're tired of me?" [Illustration: "'You won't be tied to me a minute longer than you like.'"]