"I'll wait for you out in the air," he said to his companion, and, though he spoke without irritation, he pointed his remark by passing immediately into the street, where, during the next minutes, the others saw him, his back to the shopwindow, philosophically enough hover and light a fresh cigarette.

Charlotte even took, a little, her time; she was aware of his funny Italian taste for London street-life.
Her host meanwhile, at any rate, answered her question.

"Ah, I've had it a long time without selling it.

I think I must have been keeping it, madam, for you." "You've kept it for me because you've thought I mightn't see what's the matter with it ?" He only continued to face her--he only continued to appear to follow the play of her mind.

"What IS the matter with it ?" "Oh, it's not for me to say; it's for you honestly to tell me.