still. They're in a large pocket which I sewed on the
inside of her petticoat. She's over there in the crowd. Would you very
much mind getting----?"

"I couldn't possibly," I said hastily. "She'd be almost certain to
object, especially with all those people standing round. You must wait
till you get to an hotel and then undress her again yourselves."

"Don't be an ass," said Lalage. "I don't want you to get the cigarettes.
I want you to rescue Pussy herself. It wouldn't be at all fair to allow
her to be swept away in that crowd. We'd never see her again."

I did not much care for undertaking this task either, though it was
certainly easier than the other. The polyglot guide would, I felt sure,
deeply resent the rape of another of his charges.

"Couldn't Hilda do that?" I said. "After all, she's a member of the
committee. I'm not. And you told me distinctly that ordinary members
were not expected to do anything except subscribe."

"Go on, Hilda," said Lalage.

I suppose Lalage must be president of the A.T.R.S. and be possessed
of autocratic powers. Hilda crossed the road without a murmur.
Selby-Harrison, I have no doubt, would have acted in the same way if he
had been here.

"And now, Lalage," I said, "you must tell me what brings you to
Portugal."

"To see you," said Lalage promptly.

"It's very nice of you to say that," I said, "and I feel greatly
flattered."

"Hilda was all for Oberammergau, and Selby-Harrison wanted Normandy.
He said there were churches and things there but I think churches are
rather rot, don't you?"

"Besides," I said, "after the way the society has been treating bishops
it would hardly be decent to accept their hospitality by wandering about
through their churches. Any bishop, especially if he'd been driven out
of public life by a series of scathing articles, published anonymously,
would have a genuine grievance if you----"

"It was really that which decided us on coming here," said Lalage.

"Quite right. There is a most superior kind of bishop here, a Patriarch,
and I am sure that anything you publish about him in the Portuguese
papers----"

"You don't understand what I mean. You're getting stupid, I think. I'm
not talking about bishops. I'm talking about you."

"Don't bother about taking up my case until you've quite finished the
bishops. I am a young man still, with years and years before me in which
I shall no doubt talk a lot of tommyrot. It would be a pity to drive
me out