The Most Maddening Story in the World

-"You know Sir Archibald Summers? The cricketer, I mean--one of the splendidest fellows I ever knew. He got his Brigade early on in the war and was killed at Loos. Brassington and he were old friends. They used to meet at White's. Lady Summers was one of those pretty Hemingway girls, the eldest I fancy. At any rate the two men were delighted to meet, and Brassington joined their table. He told me that the relief of finding an old friend here in Naples was extraordinary. At dinner that night he could hardly believe that anything untoward had happened to him. And yet barely an hour later.

-"I'll tell you, butl want you to understand that Archie Summers was absolutely loyal, a level-headed man of the world, the sort of man you naturally went to when in trouble. As I happen to know, he got more than one youngster out of a scrape. A splendid friend to have. And it is important you should realize this, because it makes what followed on their meeting so strange. You have to think of Summers, not as a narrow-minded saint, but as an honourable man, certainly not unaware of the seamier side of life, though of course absolutely untouched by it himself, and unselfishly devoted to his friends. Brassington, I suppose, was one of his oldest friends, if not his best. Lady Summers herself once told me how well they had always got on together. And so on this particular evening it was quite natural that after dinner the two of them should forgather over their liqueurs for an intimate chat.