"I waved the fellow away and swore haltingly that I would say nothing.
We mingled a few tears, and he got out as the train was moving….
"And there you are. I'd got my reprieve. Everything in the garden was lovely. But I couldn't enjoy it. My spirits failed to respond." He took the Sealyham's head between his hands and gazed into his eyes.
"O Nobwell, Nob-well!
Had I but seen the fool at half-past eight
As he desired, he would not in the train
Have put the wind up me so hellishly."
There was a moment's silence.
Then Jonah stepped to my brother-in-law and clapped him on the back.
"Brother," he said, "I take my hat off. I tell you frankly I couldn't have done it. I wouldn't have claimed that case at Paris for a thousand pounds."
Clamorously we endorsed his approval.
By way of acknowledgment the hero groaned.
"What you want," said I, "is a good night's rest. By mid-day to-morrow you'll be touching the ground in spots."
"I shan't be touching it at all," said Berry. "If it's nice and warm, I shall have a Bath chair, which you and Jonah will propel at a convenient pace. Nobby will sit at my feet as a hostage against your careless negotiation of gradients." He drew a key from his pocket and pitched it on to a table. "I fancy," he added, "I heard them put the case on the landing: and as I propose, decorative though it is, to remove my beard, perhaps one of you wasters will fetch me a cigarette."