JILL. It's considerable, isn't it? Now yours is--reticent,
darling. [Rumpling his hair.]

HILLCRIST. It won't be in a minute. Do you realise that I've got
gout?

JILL. Poor ducky! How long have we been here, Dodo?

HILLCRIST. Since Elizabeth, anyway.

JILL. [Looking at his foot] It has its drawbacks. D'you think
Hornblower had a father? I believe he was spontaneous. But, Dodo,
why all this--this attitude to the Hornblowers?

[She purses her lips and makes a gesture as of pushing persons
away.]

HILLCRIST. Because they're pushing.

JILL. That's only because we are, as mother would say, and they're
not--yet. But why not let them be?

HILLCRIST. You can't.

JILL. Why?

HILLCRIST. It takes generations to learn to live and let live,
Jill. People like that take an ell when you give them an inch.

JILL. But if you gave them the ell, they wouldn't want the inch.