ROSAMUND [_reflective, not heeding his remark_]. I had absolutely forgotten the whole affair, absolutely. [_Smiles a little. Aside._] Suppose he should come! [_To James._] Jim, I think I had better tell you all about Gerald. It will interest you. Besides, there is no knowing what may happen.
JAMES. As I have said, I seek not to inquire. [_Stiffly._] Nor do I imagine that this matter, probably some childish entanglement, would interest me.
ROSAMUND. Oh, wouldn't it! Jim, don't be absurd. You know perfectly well you are dying to hear.
JAMES. Very well, save my life, then, at the least expense of words. To begin with, who is this Gerald--"thine," thine own Gerald?
ROSAMUND. Don't you remember Gerald O'Mara? You met him at the Stokes's, I feel sure. You know--the young engineer.
ROSAMUND. He isn't an ass. He's a very clever boy.
JAMES. For the sake of argument and dispatch, agreed! Went out to Cyprus or somewhere, didn't he, to build a bridge, or make a dock, or dig a well, or something of that kind?
ROSAMUND [_nodding_]. Now, listen, I'll tell you all about it. [_Settles herself for a long narration._] Four years ago poor, dear Gerald was madly in love with me. He was twenty and I was twenty-four. Keep calm--I felt like his aunt. Don't forget I was awfully pretty in those days. Well, he was so tremendously in love that in order to keep him from destroying himself--of course, I knew he was going out to Cyprus--I sort of pretended to be sympathetic. I simply _had_ to; Irishmen are so passionate. And he was very nice. And I barely knew you then. Well, the time approached for him to leave for Cyprus, and two days before the ship sailed he sent me that very postcard that by pure chance you picked up.
ROSAMUND. Oh! I expect he couldn't wait. He was so impulsive. Well, on the night before he left England he came here and proposed to me. I remember I was awfully tired and queer. I had been giving a lecture in the afternoon on "How to Pickle Pork," and the practical demonstration had been rather smelly. However, the proposal braced me up. It was the first I had had--that year. Well, I was so sorry for him that I couldn't say "No" outright. It would have been too brutal. He might have killed himself on the spot, and spoilt this carpet, which, by the way, was new then. So I said, "Look here, Gerald--"