"You must be very fond of music."
"Yes, I am.... Music can be heard anywhere, but your voice can only be heard at Dulwich."
"Was it to hear me sing that you came back?"
She had spoken unawares, and felt that the question was a foolish one, and was trembling lest he should be inwardly laughing at her. But the earnest expression into which his little grey eyes concentrated reassured her. She seemed to lose herself a little, to drift into a sort of dream in which even he seemed to recede, and so intense and personal was her sensation that she could not follow his tale of adventure. It was an effort to listen to it at that moment, and she said—
"But you must be tired, you've not had a proper night's sleep ... for a week."
"I'm not very tired, I slept in the train, but I'm hungry. I've not had anything since ten o'clock this morning. There was no time to get anything at Victoria. I was told that the next train for Dulwich started in five minutes. I left my valet to take my trunks home; he will bring my evening clothes on here for the concert. Can you let me have a room to dress in?"
"Of course; but you must have something to eat."
"I thought of going round to the inn and having a chop."
"We had a beefsteak pudding for dinner; I wonder if you could eat beefsteak pudding?"
"There's nothing better."