After all, every
one exposes their insides to the public gaze and sympathy
nowadays, so why not one's outside?''
``My dear boy, I can ask the County to a Greek play, or to
a costume play, but to a Greek-costume play, never. It
doesn't do to let the dramatic instinct carry one too far;
one must consider one's environment. When one lives among
greyhounds one should avoid giving life-like imitations of a
rabbit, unless one wants one's head snapped off. Remember,
I've got this place on a seven years' lease. And then,''
continued the Baroness, ``as to skippings and flying leaps;
I must ask Emily Dushford to take a part. She's a dear good
thing, and will do anything she's told, or try to; but can
you imagine her doing a flying leap under any
circumstances?''
``She can be Cassandra, and she need only take flying
leaps into the future, in a metaphorical sense.''
``Cassandra; rather a pretty name. What kind of character
is she?''
``She was a sort of advance-agent for calamities. To know
her was to know the worst. Fortunately for the gaiety of
the age she lived in, no one took her very seriously.
Still, it must have been fairly galling to have her turning
up after every catastrophe with a conscious air of `perhaps
another time you'll believe what I say.
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