Agesilaus ever afterwards had a distaste for pterodactyls. His
reluctance to disturb them became quite a byword. The Society papers of
the period frequently commented upon it. Let us draw the parallel.'

Here Mr Bickersdyke, who had been clucking throughout this speech,
essayed to speak; but Psmith hurried on.

'You are Agesilaus,' he said. 'I am the Petulant Pterodactyl. You, if I
may say so, butted in of your own free will, and took me from a happy
home, simply in order that you might get me into this place under you,
and give me beans. But, curiously enough, the major portion of that
vegetable seems to be coming to you. Of course, you can administer the
push if you like; but, as I say, it will be by way of a confession that
your scheme has sprung a leak. Personally,' said Psmith, as one friend
to another, 'I should advise you to stick it out. You never know what
may happen. At any moment I may fall from my present high standard of
industry and excellence; and then you have me, so to speak, where the
hair is crisp.'

He paused. Mr Bickersdyke's eyes, which even in their normal state
protruded slightly, now looked as if they might fall out at any moment.
His face had passed from the plum-coloured stage to something beyond.
Every now and then he made the clucking noise, but except for that he
was silent. Psmith, having waited for some time for something in the
shape of comment or criticism on his remarks, now rose.

'It has been a great treat to me, this little chat,' he said affably,
'but I fear that I must no longer allow purely social enjoyments to
interfere with my commercial pursuits. With your permission, I will
rejoin my department, where my absence is doubtless already causing