She dropped into a brief reverie of which the man beside her was the subject and from which his voice presently recalled her.
"I hope you're going to play to us this evening ?" "I expect so--if Kitty wishes it." "That's sufficient command for most of those to whom she gives the privilege of friendship, isn't it ?" There was a quiet ring of sincerity in his voice as he spoke of Kitty, and Nan's heart warmed towards him.
"Yes," she assented eagerly.

"One can't say 'no' to her.

But I don't care for it--playing in a drawing-room after dinner." "No." Again that quick comprehension of his.

"The chosen few and the chosen moment are what you like." "How do you know ?" she asked impulsively.
"Because I think the 'how' and the 'where' of things influence you enormously." "Don't they influence you, too ?" she demanded.
"Oh, they count--decidedly.

But I'm not a woman, nor an artiste, so I'm not so much at the mercy of my temperament." The man's insight was extraordinarily keen, but touched with a little insouciant tenderness that preserved it from being critical in any hostile sense.