On your last birthday a well-meaning godfather presented you with a volume of mine, since you
had been heard on occasion to express approval of my works. The book dealt with a somewhat arid
branch of historical research, and it did not please you. You wrote to me, I remember, complaining
that I had "let you down," and summoning me, as I valued your respect, to "pull myself together."
In particular you demanded to hear more of the doings of Richard Hannay, a gentleman for whom ...