I went to some dear old lady as companion, she would be sure to die in
an apoplectic fit in a month, and I should be charged with
manslaughter. And I can't teach, because I don't know anything. The
only serious danger I shall run as Mr. Elliott's secretary will be
putting an occasional addition of my own to his letters, in a fit of
exasperation, or driving his sub-editor mad; and he seems willing to
risk that."

"You are likely to run greater dangers than that if you allow yourself
to be drawn into a theatrical circle."

"What sort of dangers?... Oh, my dear, saintly episcopal architect,
what foundations of darkness are you building upon now, out of a little
old-fashioned, out-of-date prejudice which you might have dug up from
some of your studies in antiquity books? There are just as many
dangers outside the theatrical world as in it, for the sort of woman
dangers are attractive to; and little Sunday-school teachers have come
to grief, while famous actresses have won through unscathed."

Dudley's face expressed both surprise and distaste.

"I wonder what you know about it anyway. I think you are talking at
random. Certainly no dangers would come near you if you listened to my
wishes and settled down quietly at home. If you don't care about
living in Bloomsbury, I will take a small house in the suburbs, and you
can amuse yourself with the housekeeping, and tennis, and that sort of
thing."

"And when you want to marry?"