"Interesting? Why that is such a neutral term, Mr. Dupont." She answered playfully. The way he smiled at her encouraged her. "I do hope we Brits have not shocked you?"

“Shocked, you say. The Americans do know how to have a party, but it is the British who know how to have a civilized soirée unless we dare bring up the French”, he teased lightly as he watched for a sort of sparkle in her eyes that told him that she was hooked on his words like a fish on its bait.

She smiled though she was a little taken aback at his jab at the Americans. She wasn't used to people giving out their opinions so readily. But then, she remembered, he was an American himself, or so she had been told. He was only making a joke at his own expense. "Now you have me curious about the American way of doing things, Mr. Du Pont. Pray do enlighten me," she pressed, eager to keep the conversation going, lest he found her dull. She was well aware of the fact that she was inexperienced in social gatherings of this nature, though she had prepared for them all her life.