The two young men exchanged greetings, while the owner of the bookshop observed them with a sort of patient bewilderment. He then rose slowly to his feet.

“It’s time for tea,” he said, in a carefully measured voice. “I generally lock the place up now and go upstairs. I don’t know⁠—” He hesitated, looking from one to the other. “I don’t know whether it would be asking too much⁠—if I asked you both to come upstairs with me?”

Wolf and Mr. Otter simultaneously expressed their extreme desire to drink a cup of tea with him.