“About what would happen.”

“Happen when?”

“When you got home. After being sacked, you know.”

“Who’s been sacked?” Mike’s mind was still under a cloud.

“Nobody. But if you were, I meant. And then I suppose there’d be an awful row and general sickness, and all that. And then you’d be sent into a bank, or to Australia, or something.”

Mike dozed off again.

“My pater would be frightfully sick. My mater would be sick. My sister would be jolly sick, too. Have you got any sisters, Jackson? I say, Jackson!”

“Hullo! What’s the matter? Who’s that?”

“Me—Jellicoe.”

“What’s up?”