premise: Nevertheless, her heart sank at the thought of spending an evening with him in his present state of mind, and she was tempted to invent a sore throat in order to get out of it. But he had been very helpful over the Puddephat business, she admitted to herself, and his moods were unpredictable - he might be on top of the world by the time he arrived at the cinema. ``I'm still keen if you are '' she said brightly pretending she had not noticed anything was amiss.