likely to be called upon to play with Lucia during the next day or two.
Though he read music much better than she did, he used to "go over" the
part alone first, and let it be understood that he had not seen it
before. But then he was sure that she had done precisely the same, so
they started fair. Such things whiled away very pleasantly the hours
till eleven, when he went to bed, and it was seldom that he had to set
out Patience-cards to tide him over the slow minutes.

But every now and then--and tonight was one of those occasions--there
occurred evenings when he never went out to dinner even if he was
asked, because he "was busy indoors." They occurred about once a month
(these evenings that he was "busy indoors")--and even an invitation
from Lucia would not succeed in disturbing them. Ages ago Riseholme had
decided what made Georgie "busy indoors" once a month, and so none of
his friends chatted about the nature of his engagements to anyone else,
simply because everybody else knew. His business indoors, in fact, was
a perfect secret, from having been public property for so long.

June had been a very busy time, not "indoors," but with other
engagements, and as Georgie went up to his bedroom, having been told by
Foljambe that the hair-dresser was waiting for him, and had been
waiting "this last ten minutes," he glanced at his hair in the
Cromwellian mirror that hung on the stairs, and was quite aware that it
was time he submitted himself to Mr Holroyd's ministrations. There was
certainly an undergrowth of grey hair visible beneath his chestnut
crop, that should have been attended to at least a fortnight ago. Also
there was a growing thinness in the locks that crossed his head; Mr
Holroyd had attended to that before, and had suggested a certain
remedy, not in the least inconvenient, unless Georgie proposed to be
athletic without a cap, in a high wind, and even then not necessarily