off again. He had lifted the sheets and was gazing at the corpse of the hot-water bottle.
“Did you do this?” he said in a low, strangled sort of voice.
“Er—yes. As a matter of fact, yes. I was just going to tell you—”
“And your aunt tried to persuade me that you were not insane!”
“I’m not. Absolutely not. If you’ll just let me explain.”
“I will do nothing of the kind.”
“It all began—”
“Silence!”
“Right-ho.”
He did some deep-breathing exercises through the nose.
“My bed is drenched!”
“The way it all began—”
“Be quiet!”
He heaved somewhat for awhile.
“You wretched, miserable idiot,” he said, “kindly inform me which bedroom you are supposed to be occupying.”
“It’s