“I have thought of that also,” said Eugene, as if he really had been considering the subject in its various bearings with an eye to the business; “but it would be a defined and limited monotony. It would not extend beyond two people. Now, it’s a question with me, Mortimer, whether a monotony defined with that precision and limited to that extent, might not be more endurable than the unlimited monotony of one’s fellow-creatures.”

As Lightwood laughed and passed the wine, he remarked, “We shall have an opportunity, in our boating summer, of trying the question.”

“An imperfect one,” Eugene acquiesced, with a sigh, “but so we shall. I hope we may not prove too much for one another.”

“Now, regarding your respected father,” said Lightwood, bringing him to a subject they had expressly appointed to discuss: always the most slippery eel of eels of subjects to lay hold of.