and his china-dusting at Riseholme. He ought to have been Siegfried....
He had brought a photograph of her in her cuirass and helmet, and often
looked at it when he was not too busy with something else. He had even
championed his goddess against Lucia, when she pronounced that Wagner
was totally lacking in knowledge of dramatic effects. To be sure she
had never seen any Wagner opera, but she had heard the overture to
Tristram performed at the Queen's Hall, and if that was Wagner,
well----

Already, though Lady Ambermere's motor had not yet completely vanished
up the street, Riseholme was gently closing in round him, in order to
discover by discreet questions (as in the game of Clumps) what he and
she had been talking about. There was Colonel Boucher with his two
snorting bull-dogs closing in from one side, and Mrs Weston in her
bath-chair being wheeled relentlessly towards him from another, and the
two Miss Antrobuses sitting playfully in the stocks, on the third, and
Peppino at close range on the fourth. Everyone knew, too, that he did
not lunch till half past one, and there was really no reason why he
should not stop and chat as usual. But with the eye of the true
general, he saw that he could most easily break the surrounding cordon
by going off in the direction of Colonel Boucher, because Colonel
Boucher always said "Haw, hum, by Jove," before he descended into
coherent speech, and thus Georgie could forestall him with "Good
morning, Colonel," and pass on before he got to business. He did not
like passing close to those slobbering bull-dogs, but something had to
be done ... Next moment he was clear and saw that the other spies by
their original impetus were still converging on each other and walked
briskly down towards Lucia's house, to listen for any familiar noises
out of the Mozart trio. The noises were there, and the soft pedal was
down just as he expected, so, that business being off his mind, he