Status Updates From Gently in Trees

‘Trees are a sort of dolphin of the vegetable world. They love men. If you can walk in a forest and not feel that love, you are past redemption.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘Don’t take my word for it. Cast your mind back over history. The cruel and warlike people have lived in plains, the cruellest of all in the deserts. Men need trees. When they are deprived of them they become decadent and savage.'

‘But we can’t just let him go, sir!’ Gently smiled silkily. ‘Yes we can. We’ve given him a little touch of the plague, and now I want to see where he’ll carry it.’ Metfield gulped. ‘A touch of what plague, sir?’ ‘Fear,’ Gently said. And resumed his pipe.

Lyons returned not only with Nina Walling, but also with her attendant Struwwelpeter*. The latter, viewed at closer quarters, seemed less youthful; [*German: Shaggy Peter, a nickname derived from a 19th century German book of scary stories for children, see Wikipedia.]