This he had found no easy matter, diplomacy being the art of speaking the truth with intent to deceive, and so finely separated from sheer lying as to cause grave distress to Septimus's candid soul.

At last, after much wasting of telegraph forms, he decided on the following: To Zora: "Emmy safe in London.

So am I.Don't worry.

Devotedly, Septimus." To Wiggleswick: "Bring clothes and railway carriage diagrams secretly to Club." Having dispatched these, he went into the coffee-room and ordered breakfast.

The waiters served him in horrified silence.