“This is Lord Saxby,” said Mrs. Fane.
“I say, my name is Saxby,” Michael exclaimed.
“Nonsense,” said Lord Saxby, “I don’t believe it.”
“It is really. Charles Michael Saxby Fane.”
“Well, that’s a very strange thing,” said Lord Saxby.
“Yes, I think it’s awfully funny,” Michael agreed. “Because I never heard of anyone called Saxby. My name’s Charles too. Only, of course, that’s quite a common name. But nobody at our school knows I’m called Saxby except a boy called Buckley who’s an awful beast. We don’t tell our Christian names, you know. If a chap lets out his Christian name he gets most frightfully ragged by the other chaps. Chaps think you’re an awfully silly ass if you let out your Christian name.”
Michael was finding it very easy to talk.
“I must hear some more about this wonderful school,” Lord Saxby declared.
Then followed a delightful conversation in which due justice was done to the Macalister twins and to Norton, and to the life they shared with Michael.
“By gad, Valérie, he ought to go to Eton, you know,” declared Lord Saxby, turning to Michael’s mother.