Chéri did not seem to feel the need, moral or social, to behave any different around her than he would have around any other lady. His main struggle seemed to be acting like someone who had the social status to talk to Jane at all rather than talking to a wheelchair user. She described some of her interests that were more modern and when she mentioned Offenbach, Chéri smiled broadly. He hummed one of the most famous arias from “Les contes d’Hoffmann” and commented “You like very touching things, mh? No Ave Maria for you” he seemed completely unaware of how debatable his observation was. It could have sounded like a brilliant provocation, had Chéri not broken one of his rare dandy moments by brushing his hair quickly, like a cat would have scratched behind its ear. In short, their manners were still erratic.

For the answer he wanted, Chéri waited very patiently. It was an odd question indeed, without even considering the whole breach of etiquette this constituted, but the answer wasn’t a no. It was another question. Chéri made sure to look more serious now, but also patient and not at all eager “I don’t know. I have to find a place.” He didn’t push or specify anything more, since he didn’t want to overwhelm her.

While she reflected, Chéri kept smiling, with the intention of making it clear that he would have taken whatever answer she intended to give without any consequence. Also, he knew himself and knew just how good he was at convincing people by smiling and laughing, so he forced himself not to do that, his mouth locked in position.