The Van der Veghels broke into delighted laughter and the Baron developed a more extravagant flight of fancy. They would take a photograph; a group at the centre of which would be Grant, reading aloud. In the background, the god Mithras himself would preside over the work he had inspired. This extraordinary variant on Victorian group-photography was put into operation after a playful argument between the Van der Veghels about their active and passive roles. Finally they agreed that the Baroness would take the first picture and she went excitedly into action. The wretched Grant, with open book, was placed upon an obscure stone protrusion to the left of Mithras. Alleyn on his one hand and Sophy, who was beginning to get the giggles, on the other. Behind Sophy posed Major Sweet and behind Alleyn, Kenneth Dorne.

‘And you, Gerrit, my darlink,’ the Baroness instructed her husband, ‘because you are so big, yes? at the rear.’

‘Afterwards we exchange,’ he urged.

‘So.’

‘And all to concentrate upon the open page.’

‘Ach. So.’

Major Sweet, always unpredictable, took a serious view of this business. ‘How,’ he objected, ‘are we to concentrate on something we can scarcely see?’

And indeed, it was well-urged. The head of the little god, like the altar and all the other effigies in these regions, was cleverly lit from a concealed niche but his surroundings were deep in shadow, none more so than the area in which the group was deployed. The Van der Veghels explained that all would be revealed by the flashlamp. Their great desire was that the god should be incorporated in the group and to this end a little make-believe was to be excused. Grant’s discomfiture had become so evident that Alleyn and Sophy Jason, simultaneously but without consultation, decided upon a note of high comedy.

‘I see,’ Alleyn suddenly offered. ‘Even if we can’t see it, we’re all to gaze upon the book? Fair enough. And I expect Mr Grant knows the passage by heart. Perhaps he could recite it for us in the dark.’

‘I can do nothing of the sort, damn you,’ Grant said warmly. The Baroness explained. Afterwards they would move into a more luminous spot and Grant would then, without subterfuge, read the appropriate passage.

In the meantime, the Baroness reiterated, would they all concentrate upon the almost imperceptible page.

After a good deal of falling about in the dark the group assembled. ‘Would it be pretty,’ Alleyn suggested, ‘if Miss Jason were to point out a passage in the book and I were to place my arm about the author’s shoulders, eagerly seeking to read it?’

‘What a good suggestion,’ Sophy cried. ‘And Major Sweet could perhaps bend over on the other side.’

‘Delighted, I’m sure,’ said the Major with alacrity and did bend very closely over Sophy. ‘Damn good idea, what,’ he whistled into her ear.

‘It recalls,’ Alleyn said, ‘Tchekov reading aloud to Stanislavsky and the Moscow Arts players.’