"Now, Rose, if you will just coach him a little in his small talk, he won't make a laughingstock of himself as he did the other night," added Steve.

"I don't mean his geological gabble that was bad enough, but his chat with Emma Curtis was much worse.

Tell her, Mac, and see if she doesn't think poor Emma had a right to think you a first-class bore." "I don't see why, when I merely tried to have a little sensible conversation," began Mac with reluctance, for he had been unmercifully chaffed by his cousins, to whom his brother had betrayed him.
"What did you say?
I won't laugh if I can help it," said Rose, curious to hear, for Steve's eyes were twinkling with fun.
"Well, I knew she was fond of theaters, so I tried that first and got on pretty well till I began to tell her how they managed those things in Greece.

Most interesting subject, you know ?" "Very.

Did you give her one of the choruses or a bit of Agamemnon, as you did when you described it to me ?" asked Rose, keeping sober with difficulty as she recalled that serio-comic scene.
"Of course not, but I was advising her to read Prometheus when she gaped behind her fan and began to talk about Phebe.