It was all he heard of her, till on the fourth evening she broke her admirable silence. She had just removed the tablecloth, shyly, from under the book he was reading.
"It isn't good for you to read at meal-times, sir."
"I know it isn't. But what are you to do if you've nobody to talk to?"
A long silence. It seemed as if Rose was positively thinking.
"You should go out more, sir."
"I don't like going out."
Silence again. Rose had folded up the cloth and put it away in its drawer. Yet she lingered.
"Would you like to see the little dogs, sir?"
"Little dogs? I didn't know there were any."
"We keep them very quiet; but we've seven. We've a fox and a dandy" (Rose grew breathless with excitement), "and an Aberdeen, and two Aberdeen pups, and two Poms, a mole and a white. May they come up, sir?"