"Indeed!"

"Let me lend you something to read while you're waiting."

"You're very kind. But I've had nothing to eat. Would you mind if I took it out with me?"

"Delighted! What do you say to Locke's Human Understanding?" he asked, as he produced a book.

"Thank you very much."

"Or here's Butler's Anatomy of Melancholy."

"But—"

"Or 'Obbes's Leviathan," he suggested, producing a third volume.

"Thank you, but Locke will do to begin upon."

"Ask me to explain anything you don't understand," he urged.