"Do," Mary answered.
As he walked towards the door of the box, he remembered Gilbert and he bent towards him and said quietly, "Oh, Gilbert, I'm going to fetch Lady Cecily. She wants to talk to Mary!..."
"Righto!" Gilbert replied, without looking up.
Henry hesitated. "You ... you don't mind, do you?" he said, and then wished that he had remained silent.
"Mind!" Gilbert looked up. "Why should I mind?"
"I thought perhaps ... but of course if you don't mind, that's all right!"
He hurried out of the box, feeling that he had intruded into private places. He had intended to be considerate and had achieved only the appearance of prying. "That's like me!" he thought, as he descended the stairs that led to the stalls. "I wonder why it is that I'm full of sympathy and understanding and tact in my books, and such a clumsy fool in life!"
He entered the stalls, and as he did so, Lady Cecily rose to join him. Jimphy had already gone to the bar. He held the curtain for her and she passed through. "Isn't it clever?" she said, speaking of the play, and he nodded his head. The passage leading up from the stalls was full of chattering people, but when they reached the narrow corridor which led to the box, there was no one about....
"Cecily!" he said in a low voice.
"Yes, Paddy!" she answered, looking back over her shoulder.