Page:Anthony Hope - The Dolly Dialogues.djvu/93

 due to your having been brought up on a moderate income. I have felt the effect myself.'

'Of course,' said Dolly, 'we are hit by the agricultural depression.'

'The Carters also,' I murmured, 'are landed gentry.'

'After all, I don't see much point in economy, do you, Mr. Carter?'

'Economy,' I remarked, putting my hands in my pockets, 'is going without something you do want in case you should, some day, want something which you probably won't want.'

'Isn't that clever?' asked Dolly in an apprehensive tone.

'Oh, dear no,' I answered reassuringly. 'Anybody can do that—if they care to try, you know.'

Dolly tossed a piece of pâté to the retriever.

'I have made a discovery lately,' I observed.

'What are you two talking about?' called Archie.

'You're not meant to hear,' said Dolly, without turning round.

'Yet, if it's a discovery, he ought to hear it.'

'He's made a good many lately,' said Dolly.

She dug out the last bit of pâté, flung it to the dog, and handed the empty pot to me.

'Don't be so allegorical,' I implored. 'Besides, it's really not just to Archie. No doubt the dog is a nice one, but'

'How foolish you are this morning! What's the discovery?'

'An entirely surprising one.'