"I admit I was mistaken. I am sorry."

"Don't apologize, ducky. Can't you see how pleased we all are? What were
you doing out here, anyway?"

"Just taking a stroll."

"I see. And are you proposing to continue your stroll?"

"No, I think I'll go in now."

"That's fine. Because I was thinking of going in, too, and I don't
believe I could sleep knowing you were out here giving rein to that
powerful imagination of yours. The next thing that would happen would be
that you would think you saw a pink elephant sitting on the drawing-room
window-sill and start throwing bricks at it.... Well, come on, Tom, the
entertainment seems to be over.... But wait. The newt king wishes a word
with us.... Yes, Mr. Fink-Nottle?"

Gussie, as he joined our little group, seemed upset about something.

"I say!"

"Say on, Augustus."

"I say, what are we going to do?"

"Speaking for myself, I intend to return to bed."

"But the door's shut."

"What door?"

"The front door. Somebody must have shut it."

"Then I shall open it."

"But it won't open."

"Then I shall try another door."

"But all the other doors are shut."

"What? Who shut them?"

"I don't know."

I advanced a theory!

"The wind?"

Aunt Dahlia's eyes met mine.

"Don't try me too high," she begged. "Not now, precious." And, indeed,
even as I spoke, it did strike me that the night was pretty still.

Uncle Tom said we must get in through a window. Aunt Dahlia sighed a bit.

"How? Could Lloyd George do it, could Winston do it, could Baldwin do it?
No. Not since you had those bars of yours put on."

"Well, well, well. God bless my soul, ring the bell, then."

"The fire bell?"

"The door bell."

"To what end, Thomas? There's nobody in the house. The servants are all
at Kingham."

"But, confound it all, we can't stop out here all night."

"Can't we? You just watch us. There is nothing--literally nothing--which
a country house party can't do with Attila here operating on the
premises. Seppings presumably took the back-door key with him. We must
just amuse ourselves till he comes back."

Tuppy made a suggestion:

"Why not take out one of the cars and drive over to Kingham and get the
key from Seppings?"

It went well. No question about that. For the first time, a smile lit up
Aunt Dahlia's drawn face. Uncle Tom grunted approvingly. Anatole said
something in Provencal that sounded complimentary. And I thought I
detected even on Angela's map a slig