“I can’t say you exactly know her,” said Daintree. “You know _him_. It was a photo of Pat himself dressed up as the Sleeping Beauty, or Fatima, or some such person in a pantomime they did down at the base last Christmas when he was there. The young devil carried the thing about with him so as to play off his silly spoof on every fellow he met. I must say he made a damned pretty girl.” “Good Lord!” I said. “And how did Simcox take it?” “Simcox hasn’t been told--yet,” said Daintree. “That’s just what my wife wants your advice about. You see it’s an awkward situation.” “Very,” I said. “If we tell him,” said Daintree, “he’ll probably try to kill Pat Singleton, and that would lead to a lot of trouble. On the other hand, if we don’t tell him he’ll spend the rest of his life roaming about the world looking for a girl who doesn’t exist, and never did. It seems a pity to let that happen.” “My idea,” I said, “would be to get another girl, not necessarily like the photo, but the same type, appealing and pathetic and all that. He’d probably take to her after a time.” “I suggested that,” said Daintree, “but my wife simply won’t hear of it. She says the story as it stands is a great romance and that it would be utterly spoiled if Simcox switched off after another girl. I can’t see that, can you?” “In a case like this,” I said, “when the original girl wasn’t a girl at all----” “Exactly,” said Daintree, “but when I say that my wife brings up the Angel in the Shell Hole part of the story and says that a great romance is its own reward.” “I don’t know what to advise,” I said. “I didn’t think you would,” said Daintree, “though my wife insisted that you’d be able to suggest something. But you can tell me what you think of the story. That’s what I really want to get out of you. Is it a Sob Story or just a rather unusual spoof?” “That,” I said, “depends entirely whether you look at it from Simcox’ point of view or Pat Singleton’s.” VIII ~~ SIR GALAHAD