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house I saw Roderick Claverham coming down the street.
    “Hello,” he said, and for a few seconds we stood smiling at each other.
    I spoke first. “You are still in London, then?”
    “I have been home and came back again.”
    “How are the remains?”
    “No further discoveries. It would be surprising if there were. I was hoping I might see you. I’ve been here once or twice before with the same object in view. This time I’ve struck lucky.”
    I felt pleased because he had admitted that he was looking for me.
    “Were you going to call on us?” I asked.
    “I thought in the circumstances that might not be quite acceptable, would it?”
    “Perhaps not.”
    “Whereas meeting by accident …”
    “Would be quite another matter, of course.”
    “Were you going somewhere?”
    “Only shopping.”
    “May I come?”
    “You wouldn’t be interested.”
    “I think I should.”
    “It is not necessary shopping. I was really going to finish up at the theatre and come home with my mother.”
    “Perhaps I could escort you to the theatre.”
    “It will be two hours before the show finishes.”
    “Well, we could walk round a bit. You could show me this part of London. Perhaps we could have a cup of tea somewhere? Does that seem like a bore to you?”
    “Quite the contrary.” , “Then shall we start?”
    “Of course, you are attracted to the past,” I said as we walked along. “I don’t think we have anything here as ancient as your Roman remains. My governess is very interested in this area. You see, it is very much associated with the theatre and she is devoted to all that.”
    “Perhaps that’s because she is with a theatrical family.”
    “There is my mother, of course, but to tell the truth Matty rather despises her achievements. People do when they find someone who has reached the top of what they consider to be a lower grade than they themselves aspire to—particularly if they haven’t made even the first steps towards their goal. You see, Matty fancies herself as a great actress and thinks that she is wasting her time teaching.”
    “I should have thought she should have been very proud of her present pupil.”
    “We get along quite well. But it is acting she is really interested in. I think in her heart she knows all that is right out of reach. But don’t you agree that people get pleasure out of daydreams?”
    “Very likely.”
    “It’s an easy way. Matty can live in her dreams—those moments when she is on the stage giving the finest performance of Lady Macbeth, winning the acclaim of the audience, receiving the bouquets, reading about her genius in the next morning’s papers. She doesn’t have to go through all the nerve-racking tensions, the hideous doubts, the nightmare of the opening performance as my mother does.”
    “I should have thought your mother was absolutely sure of success.”
    “It is because she isn’t that she is successful … if you understand what I mean. She tells me that unless you are in a state of tension you don’t give your best performance. In any case, I can tell you that being a successful actress is not easy and I am beginning to think that Matty’s dreams are more enjoyable than the reality. She gets lyrical about this place and she loves being in the theatrical environment. She thoroughly enjoys our walks round here.”
    “As I am doing.”
    “We always talk a lot about the old days. It must have been exciting when the theatres were reinstated. Matty goes on at length about the Puritans under Cromwell, who closed the theatres. They thought they were sinful. Matty rails against them.”
    “I agree with her. I have a dislike for the sanctimonious who enjoy taking away people’s pleasures with the excuse that it is good for them to be without it while all the time they are indulging their pleasure in contemplating their own virtue.”
    “I feel the same. But it was wonderful when the theatre came back. Almost worth having been without it! Matty is very