“Not at all,” says Anthony. The piano he bought for Guy will be arriving sometime tomorrow morning, but that isn’t a reason to hurry home yet, and everything is already ready (more than ready, when it comes to the decorations) for tomorrow’s party.

“Do you think anywhere is open?” he wonders in a by-the-by sort of way. In London there would always be someplace to get a drink, even in the very earliest hours of Christmas day, but Darrow is hardly London.