at sumptuously luxurious style to which only wealth,
untrammelled by art, is able to attain. Personally I cannot afford to
take my meals at such places, and I know that the same holds good of
my fellow-guest, Charteris. Charteris was the best scholar of our
year at Oriel, and since his demobilisation he and his wife have been
living in two rooms, except during the periods when their son joins
them for his holidays from Winchester. But our host is still possessed
of an obstinate wealth which even the War has done little to diminish,
and, as he himself puts it, is really grateful to those of his old
friends who will help him in public to support the ignominy.

At the moment, having finished lunch, we have betaken ourselves to
wicker-chairs in the porch, and Charteris and our host being deep in a
golf discussion I venture once more to turn a covert attention to the
exceedingly splendid couple who have just followed us out from the
dining-room. I noticed them first on my arrival, when they were just
getting out of their Rolls-Royce, and the admiration which I then
conceived for them was even further enhanced during lunch by a near
view of the lady's diamonds and of the Cinquevalli-like dexterity
shown by her husband in balancing a full load of peas on the concave
side of a fork. At present the man, somewhat flushed with champagne,
is smoking an enormous cigar with a red-and-gold band round it, while
the lady, her diamonds flashing in the sunshine, leans back in her
chair and regards with supercilious eyes the holiday crowds that
throng the pavement below.

Following her glance my attention is suddenly arrested by the strange
behaviour of two passers-by, who have stopped in the middle of the
pavement and, after exchanging some excited comments, are staring
fixedly towards us. From their appearance they would seem to be a
typical husband and wife of the working-class on holiday, and it
occurs to me that, given the clothes and the diamonds, they might well
be occupying the wicker-chairs of the couple opposite. Evidently the
sight of somebody or something in the hotel porch has excited
them greatly, for they continue to stare up at us with a hostile
concentration that renders them quite unconscious of the frantic
efforts of the small child who accompanies them to tug them towards
the beach. After a moment they exchange a few more quick words, and
the man leaves his companion and makes his way towards us. Ascending
the hotel s