«Oh Bradley-I can't think-Didn't he kill Hector?»
«Never mind. Have I made my point?»
«I'm not sure what it is.»
«Hamlet is unusual because it is a great work of literature in which everyone identifies with the hero.»
«I see. Does that make it less good than Shakespeare's other plays, I mean the good ones?»
«No. It is the greatest of Shakespeare's plays.»
«Then something funny has happened.»
«Correct.»
«I forbid you to take notes. You may not open the window. You may take off your boots.»
«For this relief much thanks.» She unzipped the boots and revealed, in pink tights, the legs. She admired the legs, waggled the toes, undid another button at her neck, then giggled.
I said, «Do you mind if I take off my jacket?»
«Of course not.»
«You'll see my braces.»
«How exciting. You must be the last man in London who wears any. They're getting as rare and thrilling as suspenders.»
I took off my jacket, revealing grey army-surplus braces over a grey shirt with a black stripe. «Not exciting, I'm afraid. I would have put on my red ones if I'd known.»
«So you weren't expecting me?»
«Don't be silly. Do you mind if I take off my tie?»
«Don't be silly.»
I took off my tie and undid the top two buttons of my shirt. Then I did one of them up again. The hair on my chest is copious but grizzled. (Or, if you prefer, a sable silvered.) I could feel the perspiration trickling down my temples, down the back of my neck, and winding its way through the forest on my diaphragm.
«You aren't sweating,» I said to Julian. «How do you manage it?»
«I am. Look.» She thrust her fingers in under her hair and then stretched her hands towards me across the table. The fingers were long but not unduly slim. They were faintly dewy. «Now, Bradley, where were we. You were saying Hamlet was the only-«Let's fold up this conversation shall we?»
«Oh Bradley, I knew I'd just bore you! And now I won't see you again for months, I know you!»
«Shut up. That dreary stuff about Hamlet and his ma and pa you can get out of a book. I'll tell you which one.»
«So it's not true?»
