.
Jaffery's brow began to clear.
"What do you think of it--as far as you've gone ?" My enthusiastic answer expressed the sincerity of my appreciation.

He positively blushed and looked at me rather guiltily, like a schoolboy detected in the act of helping an old woman across the road.
"It's awful cheek," said he, "but I was up against it.

The only alternative was to say the damn thing had been lost or burnt and take the consequences.

Somehow I thought of this.

I had written about half of it all in bits and pieces about three or four years ago and put it aside.