'My advice, sir, would be to fortify yourself for the ordeal.'

'How?'

'There are always cocktails, sir. Should I pour you another?'

'You should.'

'And we must always remember what the poet Longfellow said, sir.'

'What was that?'

'Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose. You have the satisfaction of having sacrificed yourself in the interests of Mr Travers.'

He had found a talking point. He had reminded me of those postal orders, sometimes for as much as ten bob, which Uncle Torn had sent me in the Malvern House days. I softened. Whether or not a tear rose to my eye, I cannot say, but it may be taken as official that I softened.

'How right you are, Jeeves!' I said.