He could not.
"What did Aylmer say about it ?" he asked.
"Oh!" said his wife quickly, "you can't expect Mr.Aylmer to understand these things.

It's not in his line.

But he was glad to oblige us.

I saw he arranged it nicely." "Well," said Priam discreetly, "that's all right.

Suppose we have lunch ?" Curious--her relations with Mr.Aylmer! It was she who had recommended him to go to Mr.Aylmer's when, on the first morning of his residence in Putney, he had demanded, "Any decent tobacconists in this happy region ?" He suspected that, had it not been for Aylmer's beridden and incurable wife, Alice's name might have been Aylmer.