“For the time.”

“Do you like it?”

“Not particularly.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“For something to turn up.”

“And carry you back to Italy, I suppose?”

“Then you know I have just been there?”

“I know all about it. Charnot told me of your meeting, and your romantic drive by moonlight. By the way, he’s come back with a bad cold; did you know that?”

I assumed an air of sympathy:

“Poor man! When did he get back?”