We talked about other things, music and old furniture and people. He
had, he said, thought of buying a house in Chelsea. It was, I realised,
not exactly the entry he had planned but I encouraged the idea. There
was, I explained, nothing like the Thames.
And so we rambled on till he took his leave. But five minutes after his
departure I heard the bell ring. Delancey burst back into the room,
"I forgot to tell you," he said, "that 185,000 copies of 'Transition'
have sold."