So far I'm getting along so comfortably
that I begin to be afraid that I must be one of the gifted
few.''
``It's rather late in the day for a Coronation Ode, isn't
it?'' said Bertie.
``Of course,'' said Clovis; ``this is going to be a Durbar
Recessional, the sort of thing that you can keep by you for
all time if you want to.''
``Now I understand your choice of a place to write it
in,'' said Bertie van Tahn, with the air of one who has
suddenly unravelled a hitherto obscure problem; ``you want
to get the local temperature.''
``I came here to get freedom from the inane interruptions
of the mentally deficient,'' said Clovis, ``but it seems I
asked too much of fate.''
Bertie van Tahn prepared to use his towel as a weapon of
precision, but reflecting that he had a good deal of
unprotected coast-line himself, and that Clovis was equipped
with a fountain-pen as well as a towel, he relapsed
pacifically into the depths of his chair.
``May one hear extracts from the immortal work?'' he
asked. ``I promise that nothing that I hear now shall
prejudice me against borrowing a copy of the _Smoky Chimney_
at the right moment.
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