"And yet, as I dare say you have already realised, it is not only the things you say to our statesmen here, and the reports you make, which count.

It is your daily life among the people of the nation to which you are attached, the friends you make among them, the hospitality you accept and offer, which has all the time its subtle significance.

Now I am not sure, even, that I am, a very good companion for you, Mr.Francis Norgate." "You are a very bad one for my peace of mind," he assured her.
She shook her head.

"You say those things much too glibly," she declared.
"I am afraid that you have served a very long apprenticeship." "If I have," he replied, leaning a little across the table, "it has been an apprenticeship only, a probationary period during which one struggles towards the real thing." "You think you will know when you have found it ?" she murmured.
He drew a little breath.

His voice even trembled as he answered her.