"I feel
as though we were exactly the same age. Moreover--" here he hesitated,
but took courage from a glance at her face, "I feel as if I could talk
quite plainly to you as one does to a man--about the relations between
the sexes, about . . . and . . ."
In spite of his certainty a slight redness came into his face as he
spoke the last two words.
She reassured him at once by the laugh with which she exclaimed, "I
should hope so!"
He looked at her with real cordiality, and the lines which were drawn
about his nose and lips slackened for the first time.
"Thank God!" he exclaimed. "Now we can behave like civilised human
beings."
Certainly a barrier which usually stands fast had fallen, and it was
possible to speak of matters which are generally only alluded to between
men and women when doctors are present, or the shadow of death. In five
minutes he was telling her the history of his life. It was long, for it
was full of extremely elaborate incidents, which led on to a discussion
of the principles on which morality is founded, and thus to several very
interesting matters, which even in this ballroom had to be discussed in
a whisper, lest one of the pouter pigeon ladies or resplendent merchants
should overhear them, and proceed to demand that they should leave the
place. When they had come to an end, or, to speak more accurately, when
Helen intimated by a slight slackening of her attention that they had
sat there long enough, Hirst rose, exclaiming, "So there's no reason
whatever for all this mystery!"
"None, except that we are English people," she answered.
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