feel ill, why waste your time with a doctor? I am sure you are not a
woman to run about seeking what you have."

"You mean health! But--I don't feel as I used to feel. Formerly I was a
very strong woman, so strong that I often felt as if I were safe from
unhappiness, real unhappiness. For Schopenhauer was right, I suppose,
and if one's health is perfect, one rises above what are called
misfortunes. And, you know, I have had great misfortunes."

"Yes?"

"You must know that."

"Yes."

"I didn't really mind them--not enormously. Even when I was what I
suppose nice people called 'ruined'--after my divorce--I was quite able
to enjoy life and its pleasures, eating and drinking, travelling,
yachting, riding, motoring, theatre-going, gambling, and all that sort
of thing. People who are being universally condemned, or pitied, are
often having a quite splendid time, you know."

"Just as people who are universally envied are often miserable."

"Exactly. But of late I have begun to--well, to feel different."

"In what way exactly?"

"To feel that my health is no longer perfect enough to defend me
against--I might call it ennui."