To be truthful, it is a relief to meet someone else from England[ Even if they weren't from the same England as herself.]

[She pulled out her key and invited him in. Part of how she let herself adapt was to think of housing as when she and her sisters lived in China; there was such little privacy there, and the rooms sparsely decorated.

Elizabeth stopped just short of the corridor.] If you do not mind, I should change out of my training gown. It won't be long, and you could wait in the recreation room.

[She just couldn't bring herself to have social meetings in sweat stained clothes.]