Both Percy Wimbolt and Nelson Cork have bought top hats from Bodmin's the hatters: it is impossible that they could not fit. Yet, having received his from the delivery boy, Percy is horrified when his girlfriend Elizabeth laughs at it. Then Nelson has his hat criticized by his girlfriend Diana. Is it the fourth dimension at work?
| Percy Wimbolt | a Drone |
| Nelson Cork | a Drone |
| Elizabeth Bottsworth | a young woman |
| Diane Punter | another young woman, niece of Nelson's godmother |
| a nurse |
First published August 1933 in Cosmopolitan magazine (US).
Also published in June 1934 in the Strand magazine.
Marble Arch, Berkeley Square, Vigo Street, Bond St, Bruton St, Dover St and Hay Hill
- are all in or border the exclusive Mayfair area of London. The Guildhall is in the City area and was the town hall for the City of London (now used for official functions but not administration).
Halma
- a board game for two or four players.
Ascot
- a racecourse in Berkshire and the race meetings held there including the Royal meeting in June.
Morning Post
- a newspaper that merged with the Daily Telegraph in 1937.
Mufti
- plain clothes worn by someone with the right to wear a uniform.
'Pure Chas. Chaplin.'
- Charles Chaplin (1889-1977), British comic actor, best known for his silent films and the tramp character that wore an old top hat.
'[One moment, this girl was] the be-all and the end-all ...'
- the whole being or essence (now a stand-alone phrase but possibly from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7).
'So he mooted the saunter, and she checked up ...'
- checked up probably means that she agreed or approved of the suggestion.
'... in the role of a parfait gentil knight ...'
- Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: Prologue.
'Warned off the Turf'
- effectively banned from involvement in horse racing due to some dirty doings, probably concerning improper betting, race fixing etc.
Carnera
- Primo Carnera (1906-67), a champion heavyweight boxer, known as The Ambling Alp.
'... a deerstalker cap with ear-flaps, as worn by Sherlock Holmes.'
- a deerstalker is a soft hat with peaks at front and rear with ear flaps often tied together at the top. Sherlock Holmes is the famous fictional detective in the books by Arthur Conan Doyle.
'... one of the smaller infusoria at the bottom.'
- an aquatic unicellular organism.
'... he is more to be pitied than censured.'
- a phrase apparently originating from the song She is More to be Pitied than Censured by William B. Gray (1898).
Acid test
- a severe or conclusive test.
'... dancing the 'Blue Danube' ...'
- the popular waltz by Johann Strauss II.
According to a note by PGW in Author! Author!, the plot for this story was supplied by his friend Bill Townend.