seen them he would certainly have perished of mortification.
Chloë was the first to regain self-control. "Oh, Bish," she cried, "but it's colossal. It's elephantine. It's cosmic. I believe you're a genius, after all. Wow, wow, how I ache! And to think that Cappers take it seriously. Do you suppose the reviewers will? Won't it be rather too pricelessly peerless if they do, Bish? But I'm afraid that's rather too absolutely much to hope for altogether."
She was wholly reassured. Dunkle could hardly believe his ears, but he had to. There was no doubt about it. He had pulled it off. What had threatened to be his Waterloo had been converted, as by a miracle, into his Omdurman.
"Now," he thought, "if I can only kid the rest of the illuminati that the book's a jape, I'm saved. But can I? Well,
