He was always going to dinners or dances, entertaining members of visiting theatrical companies; and on Friday night my mother usually received a telegram, saying that he would arrive the next day with a party of friends whom he had inadvertently asked to lunch and a matinee.

It was after one of these weekly visits that my mother wrote Richard the following: Monday Night.

MY DARLING Boy: You went off in such a hurry that it took my breath at the last.

You say coming down helps you.

It certainly does me.