I hypnotised a waiter into taking my order for Benedictine.
"No emotional crises have come my way," I protested.
"Something very curious has happened to you since we parted this afternoon."
I accounted for every moment of my time since our arrival in Oxford.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" he exclaimed when I mentioned my chance meeting with Dick Davenant. "Joyce coming up for the ball? Will you...? No! sorry."
"Will I what?"
"It's no business of mine."
"Why d'you start talking about it, then? Will I what?"
The Seraph knocked the ash off his cigar, finished his coffee, and sat silent. I repeated my question.
"Well...." he hesitated nervously. "Are you going to propose to her to-night?"