entitled Treasure Island , and had been much struck by the character and actions of a certain Captain Flint. I gathered that he was weighing the advisability of modelling his own conduct on that of the Captain.”
“But, good heavens, Jeeves! If I remember Treasure Island , Flint was the bird who went about hitting people with a cutlass. You don’t think young Thomas would bean Mr. Filmer with a cutlass?”
“Possibly he does not possess a cutlass, sir.”
“Well, with anything.”
“We can but wait and see, sir. The tie, if I might suggest it, sir, a shade more tightly knotted. One aims at the perfect butterfly effect. If you will permit me—”
“What do ties matter, Jeeves, at a time like this? Do you realize that Mr. Little’s domestic happiness is hanging in the scale?”
“There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter.”
I could see the man was pained, but I did not try to heal the wound. What’s the word I want?
- Preoccupied.
I was too preoccupied, don’t you know. And distrait. Not to say careworn.
I was still careworn when, next day at half-past two, the revels commenced on the tennis lawn. It was one of those close, baking days, with thunder rumbling just round the corner; and it seemed to me that there was a brooding menace in