"Who are you lunching with?" she enquired with unabashed interest.
"Oh, nobody that matters! What is it, Lady Barbara? What do you want, I mean?"
"I want to talk to you. Don't you like talking to me?"
"At the proper time and in the proper place. I say, you know, this is becoming a little bit tiresome."
There was a short pause; then a crestfallen voice murmured:
"I'm sorry, Eric. I'm truly sorry. I apologize."
"Lady Barbara!" he cried.
There was only a dull click, a silence and then a brisk nasal voice saying, "Number, please?"
Eric strode wrathfully back to the coffee-room.
"You can't do right with that damned girl," he muttered.