He put a handkerchief on the table, to serve for an afternoon tea-cloth, and a tiny vase of violets formed the centre-piece.
He had no cups, but he polished up two tumblers, and no housemaid could have been more particular, about their glossiness.

Then he boiled the water and made the tea.

Once she offered to help him; but he shook his head.
"Kindly not to interfere." he said grimly.

"No one can make tea better than I can." After tea, they began the inspection of the new camera, and Robert Allitsen showed her all the newest improvements.

He did not seem to think much of her intelligence, for he explained everything as though he were talking to a child, until Bernardine rather lost patience.
"You need not enter into such elaborate explanations," she suggested.
"I have a small amount of intelligence, though you do not seem to detect it." He looked at her as one might look at an impatient child.
"Kindly not to interrupt me," he replied mildly.