For Mrs.Gummer was one of those housewives who make up for an archaic simplicity of production by preparations on the most portentous and alarming scale.

But this time I would not be deterred.

If only the guests could be enticed into my humble lair, it would be easy to furnish the raw materials of the feast from outside; and the consideration of ways and means occupied me pleasantly until I found myself once more at my writing-table, confronted by my voluminous notes on the incident of the North Syrian War..