John walked eight miles over the cliffs to the nearest town in order
to buy tobacco. He came back to the farmhouse with no tobacco and
the news that he had met some friends in the town who had invited us
to dinner and Bridge the next evening.
"But that's no reason why you should have forgotten the tobacco," I
said.
"One can't remember everything. I accepted for both of us. We
needn't dress. Put on that nice blue flannel suit of yours--"
"And that nice pair of climbing boots with the nails--"
"Is that all you've got?"
"All I'm going to walk eight miles in on a muddy path."
"Then we shall have to take a bag with us. And we can put in pyjamas
and stay the night at an hotel; it will save us walking back in the
dark. We don't want to lose you over the cliff."