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Mr. Arliss Speaks of Mr. Archer 177
umbrella. Well, I had asked him to visit me at a little cottage I’ve got near Dover. ‘Don’t bring dress clothes,’ I cautioned him — ‘I’m almost the oldest inhabitant, and I’ve never seen any here.’
“Archer and I were walking across country to the bay, talking about the national theater which he would like to see established in England and which I’d like to see over here; Archer wearing his black suit and his bowler hat and carrying his inevitable umbrella, although it was as fair an August day as could be. It was, in fact, the August bank holiday, and crowds were down. But the waves were very high and nobody was bathing. That is to say, there were no swimmers out but a couple of idiots.
“I remarked what asses they were as Archer and I went on talking about our national theaters. Then I noticed that one of the asses was in what looked like serious trouble; he couldn’t get through the waves to the shore.
“I rushed to a nearby shed — a sort of life-saving station. But the hour was noon, and evidently nobody was allowed to drown during the lunch hour, for the shed was deserted and I couldn’t find as much as a piece of rope. I discovered, however, a pole, of the kind used for shrimping, and with this I turned to the water. And there I saw that somebody had gone to the rescue and was bringing out the poor idiot, all but drowned.
“I turned and looked for my companion, but could see him nowhere. ‘He’s most likely with that little crowd giving first-aid to the idiot,’ I said to myself, and walked to the little crowd — from which Archer emerged just then, looking for something on the ground.
“His dark suit was perfectly buttoned, and at first