"_The hours I spent with thee, dear heart,
Are as a string of pearls to me.
I count them over one by_--"
Abruptly he stopped singing and struck a dozen resonant major chords.
"What a disgustingly sentimental thing that is!" he said sharply. "After
our summer at Monomoy in the sea air, we need an atmosphere of ozone,
not of laughing gas."
And he played the prelude of _Die Beiden Grenadieren_.