“

My Dear Irene

⁠—I have to be up in town tomorrow. If you would like to have a look in at the opera, come and dine with me quietly.⁠ ⁠…”

“ My Dear Irene ⁠—I have to be up in town tomorrow. If you would like to have a look in at the opera, come and dine with me quietly.⁠ ⁠…”

But where? It was decades since he had dined anywhere in London save at his Club or at a private house. Ah! that newfangled place close to Covent Garden.⁠ ⁠…