His question had been rather a shock to her.

In a moment or two, however, she found herself wondering how to use it for her own advantage.
"It is true," she admitted.
He looked intently at the point of his patent shoe.
"Is this not a case, Countess," he ventured, "in which you and I might perhaps come a little closer together ?" "If you have anything to suggest, I am ready to listen," she said.
"I wonder," he went on, "if I am right in some of my ideas?
I shall test them.

You have taken up your abode in England.

That was natural, for domestic reasons.

You have shown a great interest in a certain section of the British public.