And now he is thankful that the lighting is so dim as to (hopefully) conceal his pleased blush at hearing his name from her lips. True, she'd said it before in reference to one of his many mansion doubles, but the name had not had the resonance it now did -- it belonged to him.

"I see that you have been busy in my absence," he observed, hastily changing the subject. "Though I fear that your discoveries have not been so welcome."