“I will just ask you how you are,” he said hurriedly.  “And how things are going in the Other World, and all that.  But you needn’t answer, because I haven’t much time, and I want very badly to talk about myself.  I never get a chance when Anonyma is there, and when I return to France (which is likely to happen soon), I shan’t find much chance to talk there.  I am so glad I am going back, I am so sick of hearing other people talk about things that are not worth mentioning.  Poor dear Anonyma, she meant all this recent gaiety as a reward to me for war work dutifully done.  But if this be jam, give me my next pill unadorned.  A motor tour combined with Anonyma is tiring.  If I were alone with Russ I might enjoy it.”

“Who is Russ?”

“The owner of Christina, and Christina is the vehicle which contains us during the search for you.”

He became aware of the velvet face of Chloris, gazing at him from between his knees.

“What does Chloris do while you are week-ending in Heaven.  Do you take her with you?”

“There is already a dog there, called Trelawney.”

“By Jove, that would make a nice little clue for Anonyma.  There can be only one dog on the sea-coast called Trelawney.  We could stop and ask every dog we met what its name was.  Besides, the name suggests Cornwall.  What breed is the dog?  Look here, will you write the Family a letter giving it a few neat clues for Anonyma?  After all, we ought to give her all the pleasure we can, I sometimes think we are a disappointing family for her to have married.  We lie to her, she lies to us, her enthusiasms make us smile behind our hands, ours make her yawn behind her notebook.  Send us a good encouraging letter, addressed to the house in Kensington.  We always wire our address there as we move.  Give us details about Trelawney, and, if possible, the name of the nearest post town.  If we must lie, let us give all the pleasure we can by doing so.  Poor old Anonyma.

“It’s getting dark, I must go back to the Family.  I am as a babe in the hands of Anonyma, and like a babe I promised her I would be back before dark.  Do you remember how we used to long to be lost after nightfall, just for the dramatic effect?  Yet we were awfully frightened of the dark.  Do you remember how we used to dare each other to get out of bed and run three times round the night nursery?  I have never felt so brave since, as I used to feel as I jumped into bed conscious of an ordeal creditably over.  Why is bed such a safe place?  I am not half so brave as I used to be.  I remember at the age of ten doing a thing that I have never dared to do since.  I sat in the bath with my back to the taps.  Do you suppose the innocent designer of baths meant everybody to sit like that, with a tap looking over each shoulder?  Taps are known to be savage brutes, and it is everybody’s instinct to sit the other way round, and keep an eye on the danger.  If I were as brave now as I was at ten, I could probably win the War.  Oh, Jay, I can’t stop talking, I am so pleased to be nearly out of the clutches of my relations.”