At this moment, by reason of the narrowness of the porch, their dresses touched, and remained in contact.

His clothes are something exterior to every man; but to a woman her dress is part of her body.  Its motions are all present to her intelligence if not to her eyes; no man knows how his coat-tails swing.  By the slightest hyperbole it may be said that her dress has sensation.  Crease but the very Ultima Thule of fringe or flounce, and it hurts her as much as pinching her.  Delicate antennae, or feelers, bristle on every outlying frill.  Go to the uppermost:  she is there; tread on the lowest:  the fair creature is there almost before you.

Thus the touch of clothes, which was nothing to Manston, sent a thrill through Cytherea, seeing, moreover, that he was of the nature of a mysterious stranger.  She looked out again at the storm, but still felt him.  At last to escape the sensation she moved away, though by so doing it was necessary to advance a little into the rain.

‘Look, the rain is coming into the porch upon you,’ he said.  ’Step inside the door.’

Cytherea hesitated.

‘Perfectly safe, I assure you,’ he added, laughing, and holding the door open.  ’You shall see what a state of disorganization I am in —­boxes on boxes, furniture, straw, crockery, in every form of transposition.  An old woman is in the back quarters somewhere, beginning to put things to rights. . . .  You know the inside of the house, I dare say?’

‘I have never been in.’

’O well, come along.  Here, you see, they have made a door through, here, they have put a partition dividing the old hall into two, one part is now my parlour; there they have put a plaster ceiling, hiding the old chestnut-carved roof because it was too high and would have been chilly for me; you see, being the original hall, it was open right up to the top, and here the lord of the manor and his retainers used to meet and be merry by the light from the monstrous fire which shone out from that monstrous fire-place, now narrowed to a mere nothing for my grate, though you can see the old outline still.  I almost wish I could have had it in its original state.’

‘With more romance and less comfort.’

’Yes, exactly.  Well, perhaps the wish is not deep-seated.  You will see how the things are tumbled in anyhow, packing-cases and all.  The only piece of ornamental furniture yet unpacked is this one.’

‘An organ?’

’Yes, an organ.  I made it myself, except the pipes.  I opened the case this afternoon to commence soothing myself at once.  It is not a very large one, but quite big enough for a private house.  You play, I dare say?’

‘The piano.  I am not at all used to an organ.’

’You would soon acquire the touch for an organ, though it would spoil your touch for the piano.  Not that that matters a great deal.  A piano isn’t much as an instrument.’

‘It is the fashion to say so now.  I think it is quite good enough.’