He checked his impulse to be amused, and guarded his look round, not to show unseemly curiosity.

His face, when he was introduced to Alec, who was sorting some odd dozens of tablespoons, was neutral and pleasant.

He reflected afterward that he had been quite equal to the occasion.

He thought, too, that he had shown some adaptability.

Alec was not a person of fluent discourse, and when he had inquired whether Hesketh was going to make a long stay, the conversation might have languished but for this.
"Is that Birmingham ?" he asked, nodding kindly at the spoons.
"Came to us through a house in Liverpool," Alec responded.