ANNIE. An adopted child. BARBARA. An ourang-outang. BEMERTON, Joseph. A second-hand bookseller. CARSTAIRS, John. A recluse. COLE, Miss. An arbiter. DABNEY, Mr. A London editor. DEVON, John. A novelist. DIMMAGE, James. A carpenter. "DIRECTOR, The." A folk-song enthusiast. DRAX, Martha. An inmate of the Pink Almshouses. DUCKIE, John. A waiter. DUCKIE, Martha. His wife. ENGLISHMAN, The. An Italian bathing man. FALCONER, Kent. The narrator of this story. FALCONER, Naomi. His wife. FALCONER, Lavender (Nan). A mite. FARRAR, Algernon. A young motorist of means. FARRAR, Gwendolen. His wife. FREELAND, Nancy. Robert Spanton's _fiancée_ (for a time). FURLEY, Sam. A maker of cinema films. GOLDEN EAGLE, The. An innkeeper. HARBERTON, Edith. Lynn Harberton's wife. HARBERTON, Lynn. A rural dilettante, her husband. HAYES, Eli. } HAYES, Jack. } Ancient Morris dancers. HEATHCOTE, Adolphus. A young man about town. INGLESIDE, Ann. Engaged to Adolphus Heathcote. INGLESIDE, Sir Gaston. A civil servant. LACEY, Nathan. A good-natured man. LEIGH, Starr. A novelist. LOUISA. A Chimpanzee. MITT, Miss Lydia. The Warden of the Pink Almshouses. MUGGERIDGE, James. A pipe and tabor player. MURCHISON, James. See Carstairs. PACKER, Emma. } PACKER, Laura. } Twins and landladies. RUDSON-WAYTE, Mr. A politician. SANKVILLE, Matthew. A novelist. SPANTON, Robert. A Socialist. SPEYDE, William. A novelist. STILL, Selina. An inmate of the Pink Almshouses. SURELY, Jonah. A shepherd. WILES, Mordecai. A keeper at the Zoo. WILES, Susan. His wife. WYNNE, Mrs. Frank. A mother. LONDON LAVENDER LONDON LAVENDER CHAPTER I IN WHICH A NEW HOME IS FOUND AND THE STATUS OF ANTHROPOID APES IS CAREFULLY DETERMINED Having once decided--very much against my will (such as it is)--to leave my old single rooms at Mrs. Duckie's, the question where to live was before us. Far enough away to make a good walk in fine weather, was a point on which Naomi insisted first of all, and, indeed, it was because Mrs. Duckie's house was too near Queen Anne's Gate that her hostility to it was so firm. "It's no nearer than it was before we were married," I pointed out. "In fact, just the same distance." "Yes," said Naomi, "and look how you suffered for want of exercise." (Did I?) "No, we must live farther away from it all. That's absolutely necessary."