'Perhaps you're a fair Circassian,' said he. 'Do you think yourself
you're Oriental?'
'I believe I am, in some ways. I like lying down on cushions. I like
cigarettes, and scent, and flowers. I hate wine, and exercise, and
cricket, and bridge.'
'That isn't all that's needed. You wouldn't care for life in a harem,
would you?' He laughed. 'You with your independent mind and your
cleverness.'
'Perhaps not exactly, but I can imagine worse things.'
'I shall take you to Egypt,' he said. 'You've never been there, have
you?'
'Never.' Her eyes sparkled.
'Yes, I shall take you to see the Sphinx. For the first time.'
'Oh, you can't. You're looking very well, Aylmer, wonderfully better.'
'I wonder why? You don't think I'm happy, do you?'
'I am,' said Edith.
'Because you're a woman. You live for the moment. I'm anxious about the
future.'
'Oh, oh! You're quite wrong. It's not women who live for the moment,'
said Edith.
'No, I don't know that the average woman does. But then you're not an
average woman.'
'What am I?'
'You're Edith,' he answered, rather fatuously. But she liked it. She
moved away.
'Now that's awfully mean of you, taking advantage of my wounded limb.
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