He no longer read the newspapers and magazines which had annoyed Mrs Trollope. He no longer went for his constitutional along the promenade; nor went up to his room after lunch to nap with his handkerchief over his face. He wanted to keep Mrs Trollope’s room, but she was not there to pay for it herself, and he would not pay for it; so it was easy for me to explain to him that the spring season was beginning and that I intended to put two beds into the room; the room would cost double. I said that his own room too might one day be wanted as a two-bed room, but added: ‘Since you and your wife are such good old clients, I will leave your room as it is for a while, until the busy season.’ ‘My cousin and I,’ said he. It was out of courtesy that I called Mrs Trollope his wife; for she was, indeed. Why was he so afraid of the word? Other unmarried couples in the hotel were very pleased to be called husband and wife. The Princess said: ‘Oh, I know him; it is because he is afraid of common-law marriage.’ ‘But we don’t have that here,’ I said.
