And so the gap (if it is a gap) is bridged, and at the further side of
it there stands out in my memory a bright June day with the breeze from
the river rushing up Bouverie Street and the sunlight glinting in the
distance on the cross of St. Paul's. I had lunched at the _Cheshire
Cheese_, and when I returned to the _Messenger_ office the 'phone boy
told me that my man Roebuck (whom, to be quite accurate, I shared with
two other tenants) had been trying to get me on the telephone. I rang
him up immediately and heard, without the least surprise, that a
telegram had arrived for me at my rooms. But then he said: "It's signed
'Mizzi'" (he pronounced it to rhyme with "dizzy") "and it comes from
Vienna, sir. And it says, 'Please come immediately Terrington ill'...."
It took me seconds--perhaps moments--to realize what it meant.
"Shall I pack your things, sir?"
I was too dazed to make a decision just then. I said I would get home
early and discuss the matter.