ve wished," said Mr. Korner, "it had been a better example
of the delightful art of the dramatist. When one goes but seldom to the
theatre--"

"One wants to enjoy oneself" interrupted Mrs. Korner.

"I really do not think," said the bosom friend, "that I have ever
laughed so much in all my life."

"It was amusing. I laughed myself," admitted Mr. Korner. "At the same
time I cannot help thinking that to treat drunkenness as a theme--"

"He wasn't drunk," argued Mrs. Korner, "he was just jovial."

"My dear!" Mr. Korner Corrected her, "he simply couldn't stand."

"He was much more amusing than some people who can," retorted Mrs.
Korner.

"It is possible, my dear Aimee," her husband pointed out to her, "for
a man to be amusing without being drunk; also for a man to be drunk
without--"

"Oh, a man is all the better," declared Mrs. Korner, "for letting
himself go occasionally."

"My dear--"

"You, Christopher, would be all the better for letting yourself
go--occasionally."

"I wish," said Mr. Korner, as he passed his empty cup, "you would not
say things you do not mean. Anyone hearing you--"

"If there's one thing makes me more angry than another," said Mrs.
Korner, "it is being told I say things that I do not mean."

"Why say them then?" suggested Mr. Korner.

"I don't. I do--I mean I do mean them," explained Mrs. Korner.

"You can hardly mean, my dear," persisted her husband, "that you really
think I should be all the better for getting drunk--even occasionally."

"I didn't say drunk; I said 'going it.'"

"But I do 'go it' in moderation," pleaded Mr. Korner, "'Moderation in
all things,' that is my motto."

"I know it," returned Mrs. Korner.

"A little of everything and nothing--" this time Mr. Korner interrupted
himself. "I fear," said Mr. Korner, rising, "we must postpone the
further discussion of this interesting topic. If you would not mind
stepping out with me into the passage, dear, there are one or two little
matters connected with the house--"

Host and hostess squeezed past the visitor and closed the door behind
them. The visitor continued eating.

"I do mean it," repeated Mrs. Korner, for the third time, reseating
herself a minute later at the table. "I would give anything--anything,"
reiterated the lady recklessly, "to see Christopher more like the
ordinary sort of man."

"But he has always been the sort--the sort of man he is," her bosom
friend reminded her.

"Oh, during the engagemen