schoolboy suddenly called upon to locate a Minor Prophet in the
tangled hinterland of the Old Testament, by others with the severe
scrutiny which suggests that they have visited most of the higher-
priced wines in their own homes and probed their family
weaknesses."

"Locate" is the pleasant word here. Still more satisfying, in the
story of the man who was tattooed "from collar-bone to waist-line
with a glowing representation of the Fall of Icarus," is the word
"privilege":

"The design when finally developed was a slight disappointment to
Monsieur Deplis, who had suspected Icarus of being a fortress
taken by Wallenstein in the Thirty Years' War, but he was more
than satisfied with the execution of the work, which was acclaimed
by all who had the privilege of seeing it as Pincini's
masterpiece."

This story, THE BACKGROUND, and MRS PACKLETIDE'S TIGER seem to me
to be the masterpieces of this book. In both of them Clovis
exercises, needlessly, his titular right of entry, but he can be
removed without damage, leaving Saki at his best and most
characteristic, save that he shows here, in addition to his own
shining qualities, a compactness and a finish which he did not
always achieve. With these I introduce you to him, confident that
ten minutes of his conversation, more surely than any words of
mine, will have given him the freedom of your house.

A. A. MILNE.