MRS. CULVER. Surely it has occurred to you--

CULVER (_firmly, but very pleasantly_). Stop! You had till four o'clock
this morning to deliver all your arguments. You aren't going to begin
again. I understand you've stayed in bed all day. Quite right! But if
you stayed in bed merely to think of fresh arguments while I've been
slaving away at the office for my country, I say you're taking an unfair
advantage of me, and I won't have it.

MRS. CULVER (_with dignity_). No. I haven't any fresh arguments; and if
I had, I shouldn't say what they were.

CULVER. Oh! Why?

MRS. CULVER. Because I can see it's useless to argue with a man like
you.

CULVER. Now that's what I call better news from the Front.

MRS. CULVER. I was only going to say this. Surely it has occurred to you
that on patriotic grounds alone you oughtn't to refuse the title. I
quite agree that Honours have been degraded. Quite! The thing surely is
to try and make them respectable again. And how are they ever to be
respectable if respectable men refuse them?

CULVER. This looks to me suspiciously like an argument.

MRS. CULVER. Not at all. It's simply a question.

CULVER. Well, the answer is, I don't want Honours to be respectable any