“You are lunching here?”

“ Mais oui. I am lunching with you.”

“I am exceedingly sorry,” said Derek. “I have a very important engagement.”

“ Mon Dieu! But you men are like children,” exclaimed the dancer. “But yes, it is the spoilt child that you act to me, ever since that day in London when you flung yourself out of my flat, you sulk. Ah! mais c’est inouï! ”

“My dear girl,” said Derek, “I really don’t know what you are talking about. We agreed in London that rats desert a sinking ship, that is all that there is to be said.”