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- I29 -

a long white beard striking the rocks with an even longer white rod to the amazement of a crowd of gaping Israelites. Now Moses' wand was on a level with the Lawyer's head and wishing to enter agreeably into a world of hard facts, I was about to express hopes that the wand of American Justice might prove as efficaceous [[efficacious]] as that of Moses on the rocks. But I thought better of it: perhaps he was not amenable to figures of speech. And so it proved to be. To N.'s exposition of our case (the peasants ejected by military aid) all he found to say was 'but it can't be done!' It is not in accordance with the law. We insisted that it had been done and all we asked of him was his ratification. But no, he was obdurate; we had done what could not be done. 'Bring me something easier next time', said he, as he conducted us to the door. In the corridor we were stopped by the lawyer's secretary, a fat, middle-aged woman who was all for telling us then & there the story of her life. This we cut short by making for the staircase, and again we passed through many rooms, turned round many columns, entered may porticoes, finally to land on the ground-floor. Once there I made a dash in the wrong direction and N. gave me a push in the right direction and then I, in turn, pushed her too, (we never push each other). Such was the state of our nerves. 

Exhausted though we were, once back home again, N. suddenly remembered the fish-pond that has not been emptied for months. We can no longer see the fish. She calls up Mario.