"Rather not; only the preface; and, mind you, he hadn't said a word about you up to then, not even mentioned your name."
"What came next then?"
"He asked me to talk about England and the English, saying that he had been there a lot and knew heaps of people; and then you came into the picture."
"Did he ask about me, do you mean?"
"Are you telling the story or am I?" and she rallied me with a smile which was good to see. She was much more like the Nessa of old times, was in good spirits, and had thrown off much of the worrying load of depression. "I don't know whether you've done it, but to-day somehow I can't take things seriously."
"That's as it should be; but how did he bring me in?"
"Well, he was either acting better than I could or he was perfectly sincere. What he did was to talk about people, mentioning a lot of names and asking me whether I knew any of them, and in the most casual tone in the world out popped yours."
"Lassen?"
"Of course not; your own, Lancaster."
"Phew! That's a caution, if you like. What did you say?"