I'm going to open
it. May I?
Capt. G. Certainly, if you want to. I'd sooner you didn't though. I don't ask
to look at your letters to the Deercourt girl.
Mrs. G. You'd better not, Sir! (Takes letter from envelope.) Now, may I look?
If you say no, I shall cry.
Capt. G. You've never cried in my knowledge of you, and I don't believe you
could.
Mrs. G. I feel very like it today, Pip. Don't be hard on me. (Reads letter.) It
begins in the middle, without any "Dear Captain Gadsby," or anything. How
funny!
Capt. G. (Aside.) No, it's not Dear Captain Gadsby, or anything, now. How
funny!
Mrs. G. What a strange letter! (Reads.) "And so the moth has come too near the
candle at last, and has been singed into--shall I say Respectability? I
congratulate him, and hope he will be as happy as he deserves to be." What does
that mean? Is she congratulating you about our marriage?
Capt. G. Yes, I suppose so.
Mrs. G. (Still reading letter.) She seems to be a particular friend of yours.
Capt. G. Yes. She was an excellent matron of sorts--a Mrs. Herriott--wife of a
Colonel Herriott. I used to know some of her people at Home long ago--before I
came out.
Mrs. G. Some Colonel's wives are young--as young as me.
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