"Alwynne's rather difficult to get hold of. She doesn't understand anything but black and white."
"Clare Hartill—I suppose you've heard of Clare Hartill?"
"Have I not!"
"Clare Hartill says she has an uncanny ear for nuances."
"Also that she's thick-skinned! The woman's a fool."
"Oh, she's quite right, Roger, though I expect she was in a temper when she said it. But it only means that Alwynne has been trained to listen to women. She can't follow men yet. She has been advised that they are grown-up children and that her rôle is to be superior but tactful."
He chuckled.
"Yes. When Alwynne's tactful—she's tactful! You can't mistake it, can you? Have you ever seen her sidling out of a room when she thought she wasn't wanted? Still, she can hold her own, on occasion. She simply walked through my hints. But—how does she talk of me, Elsbeth, if she does at all, that is?"
"She likes you, in the 'good old Roger' fashion."
"But you do think I have a chance?"