“Indeed, no,” he answered. “Mine is a primitive and unstudied manner. It needs cultivating, I think.”
His fingers touched hers for a moment under the ledge of the box.
“That sounds so uncouth,” she murmured. “I detest amateurs.”
“I will buy books and a lay figure,” he declared, “to practise upon. Or shall I ask Colonel Anson for a few hints?”
“For Heaven’s sake no,” she declared. “I would rather put up with your own efforts, however clumsy. Love-making at first hand is dull enough. At second hand it would be unendurable.”
He leaned towards her.
“Is that a challenge?”
She shrugged her shoulders, all ablaze with jewels.
“Why not? It might amuse me.”