ew. In due time we reached
our destination and stood triumphant in the stamp-shop. It was not a
large shop, but it was a rich shop, owning countless valuable
varieties, and Frederick, whose hands were now of the subfuse hue
which Cambridge insists on for the garments of her candidates, was
soon engaged in an animated discussion with the affable and amused
proprietor. At last the five shillings were exhausted and the deal was
complete, the last item consisting of a perfectly terrific set of
Gaboon stamps, each decorated with the fuzzy head of a spear-bearing
native warrior. It speaks volumes for the power and courage of our
French allies that they should have been able to overcome these savage
and formidable tribesmen, and reduce them to the order that is implied
by the existence of a post-office and the possession of stamps.

We now found that we had about forty minutes to spare. It is hardly
necessary to say that, being in the immediate neighbourhood of the
Strand, we devoted the time to a Cinema. The change from the Gaboon
and its truculent inhabitants to a highly sentimentalised
fishing-village was something of a wrench, but Frederick, clutching
his purchases and his catalogue as if his life depended on stamps, was
equal to it. He bore without flinching the storms and the wrecks, and
the bodies of drowned men tossed upon the shore. Nor did he audibly
disapprove when one fisherman, rescued from death, lost his memory for
many years, and eventually regained it in extreme old age amid the
rejoicings of his relatives and neighbours.

Thence we passed by a happy change to the detached and melancholy
malice of Mr. CHARLES CHAPLIN, of whom I can now say, _Vidi tantum_.
Mr. CHAPLIN'S victim on this occasion was a well-dressed foreign
gentleman of perfect manners but fiery temper, who was compelled to
suffer a series of dreadful indignities. We left him struggling
silently but furiously against an adhesive lobster salad which Mr.
CHAPLIN had, in an absent-minded moment, plastered over his face.

We now went on to the Rhadamanthus. Here the rite of washing and
brushing was duly performed, Frederick remarking with obvious regret
that if it had only been on the Cinema he would have had to throw the
soap at me and splash the water in my face. "But," he added, "I shall
be able to do it to Alice when I get home." He was not at all
overwhelmed by the marble and gilded splendours of our palace, but sat
himself down to luncheon as