Weakly I thought of "Why does the razorbill razorbill?" and, I am afraid, found nothing to reply....
Then, as he continued to babble laboriously across the gulf that separated us, I remembered again certain tubular parcels that arrived for him by post, which, when stripped of their wrappings, turned out to contain the Transactions and Proceedings of this Society or that. Seeing these left lying about I had peeped into them, and had been brought up standing against such intimidating fences as the following:—
"Aerofoil Sections in relation to Speed Range."
"Influence of Wave-friction on Aerodynamic Resistances."
"Notes on Lateral Stability."
My simple literary mind faints in regions such as these. His presumably did not. This apparently was his ordinary reading, the Specter his relaxation.
"—amber beads," the words came across the void that separated soul from soul. "Just the shade I meant—neither too yellow nor too brown—I'm afraid it took up an awful lot of your time——"
It was here that I took my plunge.
"What," I said, looking steadily at him, "is the Influence of Wind-friction on Aerodynamic Resistance?"