"Oh, my dear! Who _is_ Ambrose?"

"I gather that he was a Cambridge don; lives in London now, and edits
classics."

"Did you ever see such a set of cranks? The woman asked me if I thought
her husband looked like a gentleman!"

"It was hard to keep the ball rolling at dinner, certainly," said
Richard. "Why is it that the women, in that class, are so much queerer
than the men?"

"They're not half bad-looking, really--only--they're so odd!"

They both laughed, thinking of the same things, so that there was no
need to compare their impressions.

"I see I shall have quite a lot to say to Vinrace," said Richard. "He
knows Sutton and all that set. He can tell me a good deal about the
conditions of ship-building in the North."

"Oh, I'm glad. The men always _are_ so much better than the women."

"One always has something to say to a man certainly," said Richard.
"But I've no doubt you'll chatter away fast enough about the babies,
Clarice."

"Has she got children? She doesn't look like it somehow."