"You have told us much that we are not accustomed to hear in Kings Port."
"Oh, I haven't begun to tell you!" I exclaimed cheerily.
"You certainly have not told us," said Mrs. Gregory, "how your 'precocity' escapes this divorce degradation."
"Escape it? Those people think it is--well, provincial--not to have been divorced at least once!"
Mrs. Gregory opened her eyes, but Mrs. Weguelin shut her lips.
I continued: "Even the children, for their own little reasons, like it. Only last summer, in Newport, a young boy was asked how he enjoyed having a father and an ex-father."
"Ex-father!" said Mrs. Gregory. "Vice-father is what I should call him."
"Maria!" murmured Mrs. Weguelin, "how can you jest upon such topics?"
"I am far from jesting, Julia. Well, young gentleman, and what answer did
