"I most positively shall, dad."

Mr. Prohack realised desperately that all was lost except honour, and he
was by no means sure about even honour.




CHAPTER XVI

TRANSFER OF MIMI


I

Mr. Prohack passed a very bad night--the worst for months, one of the
outstanding bad nights of his whole existence.

"Why didn't I have it out with Charlie before he left?" he asked himself
some scores of times while listening to the tranquil regular breathing
of Eve, who of course was now sure of her house and probably had quite
forgotten the meaning of care. "I'm bound to have it out with him sooner
or later, and if I'd done it at once I should at any rate have slept.
They're all sleeping but me."

He simply could not comprehend life; the confounded thing called life
baffled him by its mysterious illogicalness. He was adored by his
spouse, beloved by his children, respected by the world. He had heaps of
money, together with the full control of it. His word, if he chose, was