“Why not?”
“I’m not the man for dinners.”
“It won’t be a dinner. Only Vreeswijck. My wife will be very pleased.”
“Yes, but I shall be putting your wife out....”
“Not a bit. I’ll see if she’s at home and introduce you to her.”
“No, my dear fellow, no, honestly.... I’m no ladies’ man. I’m nothing of a drawing-room person. I never know what to say.”
“You surely haven’t grown shy!”
“Yes, almost. With ladies ... I really don’t know what to say. No, old chap, honestly.....”
His voice was full of anxious dismay.
“I think it’s mean of you, to refuse to come and dine with us, quite quietly.”