"You are quite right. Too much everything." Not like his own home which is tastefully bleak and desolate. He wasn't all that taken with Mr. West at first glance, but he warms up to him because of his criticism of the event.

"I was looking for our host. Perhaps I might suggest an amusing diversion- today happens to be an anniversary of an event very dear to me, I only just remembered. I wonder if the master of the house keeps straw dummies about."