Page:Anthony Hope - The Dolly Dialogues.djvu/144

 'Well, do you think you'd like it, Mr. Carter?'

'Wait till I've finished,' said I, waving my hand.

Another ten minutes saw the end of my task.

Panting and hot I sought the shade, and flung myself on to my deck-chair again. I also lit a cigarette.

'I think they looked better on the other side, after all,' said Dolly meditatively.

'Of course you do,' said I urbanely. 'You needn't tell me that.'

'Perhaps you'd like to move them back,' she suggested.

'No,' said I. 'I've done enough to create the impression.'

'And how did you like it?'

'It was,' said I, 'in its way a pleasant enough illusion.' And I shrugged my shoulders, and blew a ring of smoke.

To my very considerable gratification, Dolly's tone manifested some annoyance as she asked,—

'Why did you say "in its way"?'

'Because, in spite of the momentary pleasure I gained from feeling myself a married man, I could not banish the idea that we should not permanently suit one another.'

'Oh, you thought that?' said Dolly, smiling again.

'I must confess it,' said I. 'The fault, I know, would be mine.'

'I'm sure of that,' said Dolly.

'But the fact is that I can't exist in too high