Then the clock upon the mantel chimed seven, and almost simultaneously Mrs Hinijer announced dinner. AFTER DINNER. XVIII. The Angel and the Vicar sat at dinner. The Vicar, with his napkin tucked in at his neck, watched the Angel struggling with his soup. "You will soon get into the way of it," said the Vicar. The knife and fork business was done awkwardly but with effect. The Angel looked furtively at Delia, the little waiting maid. When presently they sat cracking nuts--which the Angel found congenial enough--and the girl had gone, the Angel asked: "Was that a lady, too?" "Well," said the Vicar (_crack_). "No--she is not a lady. She is a servant." "Yes," said the Angel; "she _had_ rather a nicer shape." "You mustn't tell Mrs Mendham that," said the Vicar, covertly satisfied. "She didn't stick out so much at the shoulders and hips, and there was more of her in between. And the colour of her robes was not discordant--simply neutral. And her face----" "Mrs Mendham and her daughters had been playing tennis," said the Vicar, feeling he ought not to listen to detraction even of his mortal enemy. "Do you like these things--these nuts?" "Very much," said the Angel. _Crack._ "You see," said the Vicar (_Chum, chum, chum_). "For my own part I entirely believe you are an angel." "Yes!" said the Angel. "I shot you--I saw you flutter. It's beyond dispute. In my own mind. I admit it's curious and against my preconceptions, but--practically--I'm assured, perfectly assured in fact, that I saw what I certainly did see. But after the behaviour of these people. (_Crack_). I really don't see how we are to persuade people. Nowadays people are so very particular about evidence. So that I think there is a great deal to be said for the attitude you assume. Temporarily at least I think it would be best of you to do as you propose to do, and behave as a man as far as possible. Of course there is no knowing how or when you may go back. After what has happened (_Gluck_, _gluck_, _gluck_--as the Vicar refills his glass)--after what has happened I should not be surprised to see the side of the room fall away, and the hosts of heaven appear to take you away again--take us both away even. You have so far enlarged my imagination. All these years I have been forgetting Wonderland. But still----. It will certainly be wiser to break the thing gently to them." "This life of yours," said the Angel. "I'm still in the dark about it. How do you begin?"