"That's because you don't understand me as well as I do you."
"What sort of wife do you think that you'll make Tom?"
"I'm not so sure; it's a good thing to be content. Each time I put my arms about his neck he'll forgive me everything."
"So far as I gather, the difference between me as a husband and you as a wife consists in this: that while I'm going to be found out, you're not. I don't see why you should be so sure of the immunity you refuse to me."
"I admit that in this world one never can be sure of anything. I quite credit you with as much capacity to throw dust in a woman's eyes as I have to throw dust in a man's. Still, there is a difference between us of which I'm conscious, though just now I'm too lazy to attempt an exact definition. I really can't see why you object to Stella; she'll make you a good wife."
"My child! Do you want a bad one? You should have no difficulty in being suited."
"Is a sinner likely to be happy if mated to a saint?"
"Would he be happier if mated to another sinner? In that case you might do well to marry me--which I doubt."
"I don't. I'm disposed to think that ours would be an ideal union."
"Neither would expect the other to be perfect; each would allow the other a wider range of liberty for purely selfish reasons."
"I say, wouldn't it be rather a joke if you were to throw over Stella and I were to throw over Tom and we were to marry each other?"
"I'd do it like a shot if it weren't for one drawback--that we both of us are penniless."
"That is a nuisance, since we are both of us so fond of what money stands for. If you had five thousand a year perhaps I might marry you after all."
"Pray why are you sure? You've a conceit!"
"If--I say if--I were to marry you, would you give me a good time?"
"The very best--a time after your own heart."
"That certainly is true. I shouldn't be surprised if you were more generous even than Tom."
"I don't call that sort of thing generosity. A man gives things to a woman he cares for because he has a lively sense of favours to come."
"That's candid. You've given me one or two trifles already. Has that been with a lively sense of favours to come?"
"You wretch! Would you care for me a little?"
"I care for you more than a little now, as you are perfectly well aware."