interlocutory

[A]s he passed through the crowded anterooms . . . never did Leicester return the general greeting with such ready and condescending courtesy. . . . For all the favourite Earl had a bow and smile at least, and often a kind word. . . . A few of Leicester's interlocutory sentences ran as follows:— "Poynings, good morrow; and how does your wife and fair daughter? . . ."