"Paradise, although personally I am careful to suppress the fact as much as possible, is on the telephone. Judith finds it necessary to talk to the Stores! This morning, while 'Cynthia' and I were hard at it, the telephone bell rang violently. The instrument, by the way, is in the pantry. I ignored the summons. I hoped the girl at the Exchange would soon grow weary. She persisted. In the end, 'Cynthia' retired hurt, and I descended the staircase. "A wonderful instrument! Not the telephone. The human voice. There are voices which rivet the attention at once--even on the telephone. This was one of them-- "'Northborough is speaking. Is that you Bond? Alfred York is motoring down to see you. He is on his way now. You can put him up for twenty-four, or forty-eight, hours, I suppose? If you get the opportunity, you can tell him, when he arrives, that everything is proceeding in accordance with plan.'" "You know the Duke of Northborough?" the King gasped. "Thanks to you, my boy, yes," Uncle Bond chuckled. "Note in passing, that I--with the assistance of Thomas Carlyle--have created an opportunity to tell you that--'everything is proceeding in accordance with plan!' But we must really finish this sweet. No more for you? Another glass of wine, then? You will find that the bottle will run to it, although those long necks are deceptive." Mechanically, the King filled the wineglasses once again. For a minute or two, there was silence while Uncle Bond made short work of the remnant of the sweet which the King had refused to share. This accomplished the little man leant back in his chair. "When Alfred York, the young and reckless sailor, whose friendship Judith and I have learnt to value so highly in recent months, first showed an unmistakable desire to establish an intimacy with us, I saw no reason why I should--discourage his visits," Uncle Bond resumed with a mischievous chuckle. "Who, and what, our friend Alfred might be elsewhere, how he might fill in his--spare time--elsewhere, it seemed to me--need be--no concern of ours. These were matters to which he never referred. Judith and I might have our own ideas on the subject, we might even have knowledge which he never suspected; but until he spoke, it seemed to me, that there was--no necessity--for us to speak. Our friend Alfred obviously valued the hospitality which we were so glad to offer him. That was enough for us. "But things happen. The curse, and the charm, of human life in two words--things happen!