"My dear," he said, "he's a blinkin' marvel. Where you and I 'ld be standing outside a stage-door with a nervous grin and a bag of jujubes, he'd walk straight up TO a Marchioness, say, 'I feel I must tell you that you've got a mouth in a million,' and--_get away with it_. But there you are. In the present case----" "--for once in a way," said Adèle, "the lady seems to have made the running." She turned to me with a smile. "Well, Juan me lad, tell us some more about her. Was she fair or dark?" I nodded at Berry. "Better ask him," I said. "He knows more about it than I do." "She was dark," said Berry unhesitatingly. "A tall willowy wench, with Continental eyes and an everlasting pout. Am I right, sir?" "You may be," said I. "Not having seen the damsel...." There was an outburst of incredulous objection. "Sorry," I added, "but the liaison was conducted upon the telephone. Just now. When I ordered the paper. The lady had no idea she was giving me counsel. So, you see, we're both blameless. And now may I have a match?" "Well, I am disappointed," announced Adèle. "I quite thought we were off." "So did I," said Daphne. "And you never even---- Oh, it's spoiled my tea." Even Jill protested that I had "led them on." In some dudgeon, I began to wonder if I should ever understand women. * * * * * An hour and a half had slipped by. Ready for dinner with twenty minutes to spare, I had descended to the lounge. There a large writing-table had suggested the propriety of sending a postcard to the sweetest of aunts, who, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, invariably presumed our death after fourteen days. There being no postcards available, I started a letter.... For a page and a half my pen ran easily enough, and then, for no reason whatever, my epistolary sense faltered, laboured, and ceased to function. I re-read what I had written, touched up the punctuation, and fingered my chin. I reviewed the past, I contemplated the future, I regarded my finger-nails--all to no effect. There was simply nothing to say. Finally I rose and went in search of a waiter. There was, I felt, a chance that a Martini might stimulate my brain.... I returned to my seat to find that, while I had been gone, a heifer from another herd had come to drink at the pool.