e, I fell on my
knees in the surf and laughed till the eighth wave knocked me head over
heels and the ninth broke into my open jaws and choked me. The next
moment the girl caught me by the arm, and I stumbled out and lay down
on the dry sand with the shirt clasped to my breast. My hat had gone
again ages ago. Then I looked at the girl kneeling anxiously by my
side, and began to laugh again. She sat back on her heels, with one
hand to her lips and a scared expression on her face.

"He's mad," she said, half to herself, "mad! Must have been stung by a
jelly-fish or something. I've heard--"

I cut her short.

"Mermaid dear, I'm as sane as you are, only--"

"Only what?"

"Everybody's doing it"--she recoiled--"doing it! Listen to me. True,
that is your chemise. True, that out there is my hat--there it is.
But here is Berry's shirt, and miles out there is Daphne's straw hat.
If I'd stayed long enough, I've no doubt I should have seen Jonah's
trousers and Jill's chemisette, which means or mean--whichever you
like--that...."

Hurriedly I explained, and then fell again into uproarious laughter.
This time she joined me in my mirth. At length:

"But, after all," she said, "it doesn't make it any better for me,
because I'm all alone, while you're a party."

"I admit it has been said that Unity is Strength," said I, "but I don't
know that that exactly applies--"

"And I can't walk home like this, even with that on." She indicated
the chemise.

"Certainly not with that on: it'd only make it more indec--"

"More what?"

"Er--unusual. Indeed, it would."

She regarded me suspiciously. Then:

"What about you?"

"Me? How d'you mean?" I said uneasily.

"Well, couldn't you slip back to the hotel somehow? Quite quietly, I
mean, and--"

"I could slip all right," said I. "The short grass on the top of the
cliffs would help me there. But, my dear girl, how on earth can I do
anything quietly in this dress?"

"Everybody will be--"

"Just finishing lunch or sitting on the terrace. Thanks very much."

"There's a back door."

"I never thought of that. Splendid! Leading to the kitchen, of
course. They'd never notice me there. And I could just drop in at the
office for the key of my room, and see if there were any letters on the
way up, and---- My dear girl, how can I? I admit I've a good deal of
nerve, but there is a limit. I know one can do most things nowadays,
but--"

"But this is a specia