"If I go with you, it must be the tea-rooms I and my friends use." She gave him a rather hard smile and added: "There's no use in my going where I don't belong." Lister said nothing, but while they walked across the town she talked with a brightness he thought forced, and when they stopped at a small tea-room in a side street he frowned.

He was persuaded she did not belong there.

She was playing a part, perhaps not very cleverly since he had found her out.

She wanted him to think her a shop-girl enjoying an evening's adventure; her talk and careless laugh hinted at this, but Lister was not cheated.
They went in.

The room was small and its ornamentation unusual.
Imitation vines crawled about light wooden arches, cutting up the floor space into quiet corners.