"Ah," he says, a miserable little smile plucking at the corners of his mouth. He turns his face away to hide it. No. No, I won't be practicing it...And I won't be around you to drop any pearls of any sort.

"I wouldn't even know where to start," he says. "Practicing, I mean. I suspect it'll be like practicing the piano for someone who never learned to play - if you don't have the basic skill, you can't train yourself up, can you?" He strokes her cheek with his thumb. "It's all right. I do all right as I am, I think."