So it was like him to say, with a sigh, "I had hoped to hear you use the old name." That sigh made her look at him sharply.

He knew that he must be careful with Grizel, and that she was irritated, but he had to go on.
"It is strange to me," said Sentimental Tommy, "to be back here after all those years, walking this familiar road once more with you.

I thought it would make me feel myself a boy again, but, heigh-ho, it has just the opposite effect: I never felt so old as I do to-day." His voice trembled a little, I don't know why.

Grizel frowned.
"But you never were as old as you are to-day, were you ?" she inquired politely.

It whisked Tommy out of dangerous waters and laid him at her feet.