"I suspect the new note to be a poseur, not quite of the usual species, but a poseur. Most musicians are ludicrously of their profession. This one is too much apparently detached from it to be quite natural. But the truth is, nobody is really natural. And no doubt it's a great mercy that it is so."
Charmian looked at him for a few seconds in silence. Then she observed:
"You know there's something in you that I can't abide, as old dames say."
This time Lane really smiled.
"I hope so," he said. "Or else I should certainly lack variety. Well, Max, what is it?"
"Mrs. Shiffney wants you."
"I always want him. I swim in his irony and can't sink, like a tourist in the Dead Sea."
"What a left-handed compliment!"
"A right-handed one would bore you to death, and my aim in life is—"
"To avoid being bored. How often do you succeed in your aim?"