"No, but it doesn't bore me as much as doing things that are more
trouble."

"What sort of things?"

"Oh, being on committees that you don't really take any interest in." She
rather enjoyed his amazement.

"Now tell me one thing more," he said. "What would you do if you had to
earn your living?"

The true answer was that she would marry Edward Hickson, but, though
heretofore she had been fairly candid, she thought on this point a
little dissembling was permissible. "I should starve, I suppose," she
returned gaily.

"And suppose you fell in love with a poor man?"

She grew grave at once. "Oh, that's a dreadful thing to happen to one,"
she said. "I've had two friends who did that." She almost shuddered. "One
actually married him."

"And what happened to her?"

Miss Fenimer shook her head. "I don't know. She's living in the suburbs
somewhere. I haven't seen her for ages."

"And the other?"