“Never mind why. I have my reasons. And I want you to get it into your head, Bertie⁠—get it right through the concrete⁠—that you and I must not be seen hobnobbing. Your blighted cousin was caught smoking in the shrubbery the day before yesterday, and that has made my position pretty tottery, because your aunt said that, if I had exercised an adequate surveillance over him, it couldn’t have happened. If, after that, she finds out I’m a friend of yours, nothing can save me from being shot out on my ear. And it is vital that I am not shot out.”

“Why?”

“Never mind why.”

At this point he seemed to think he heard somebody coming, for he suddenly leaped with incredible agility into a laurel bush. And I toddled along to consult Jeeves about these rummy happenings.

“Jeeves,” I said, repairing to the bedroom, where he was unpacking my things, “you remember that telegram?”

“Yes, sir.”