you up!’
‘You most certainly deserve the lady’s appetite, Beaufort,’ agreed the captain. ‘A perfect presentation. I make bold to say that when you are old enough to try your hand on a case-history, not another member of the Club will hold a candle to you. But now, to business! What possibilities seemed best to you?’
‘Well, obviously the Chirk-Finch woman is ripe for re-identification. Naturally, I don’t know her history, but it is clear that she has not grasped herself for many years. It was my good luck to stumble on her just at a moment when, so to speak, the National Health Service was pointing an accusing finger at her suspended identity. There is no question, however, that her original name was Mrs Finch. According to the Electoral Register, which I went on to consult at the Post Office, there is no Mr or Miss Finch in the district, so we may assume she is a widow. She will not demand any great effort from us, poor thing: all she asks for herself is a fixed entity. In fact, the choice is open to us: we can strengthen her waning faith in herself as Finch, or we can follow National Health and recreate her as Chirk. This choice is fortunate forus since Mrs Jellicoe – I mean Miss Paradise – I mean – oh! dear I am confused myself.’
‘Gently, boy, gently!’ said the captain. ‘All is perfectly clear. You refer to our housekeeper, who is Mrs Henry Paradise to herself, Florence to me, and Florrie to your – ah! – stepmother.’
‘Exactly. Perhaps Mrs Paradise has known this woman under her obsolescent name of Finch. If so, we can get some idea of whether she is a good domestic. If Mrs Paradise says she is, we will drop the matter for a few days and then tell Mrs P. that Mrs Finch has been unable to come. We will then bring Mrs Finch to the house as another applicant, named Mrs Chirk.’
‘The other way round,’ said the captain. ‘We inform Mrs Paradise of an applicant named Chirk, who is new to these parts, and then we produce Mrs Finch, under the name of Chirk. Mrs P., who will have been feeling nervous at the thought of a strange domestic coming here, will be relieved to find that Mrs Chirk resembles closely a trustworthy female whose name she had forgotten but which she thinks was something like Finch. And yet, on the whole, I think there’s no doubt that the important thing is to establish Finch as Finch – to give her the feeling that no matter what National Health may think, she knows best who she is. If we confirm her as Finch, she will soon feel that this is the one place in the world where she has no reason to doubt her existence. In this respect, of course, she is quite the opposite of Mrs Paradise, who has needed to be totally re-identified in order to make the most of herself. … Well, what else have you brought from your fruitful “Surgery”?’
‘I think it clear that all three doctors have already lost almost all sense of personal distinctiveness. Dr Burke’s gestures and panting suggested a man bursting with emigration tendencies: only half his mind is chained to “Surgery”; the other half is already wearing pongee in Buenos Aires or helicoptering with a beard between Australian sheep-stations. I am not sure that we could allay this lust for a new beginning simply by bringing him here – unless, of course, we were able to convince him that he had spent his life in Australia and that this was the free, cultured world he had always dreamed of as the only way of realizing himself.’
‘Rule him out,’ said the captain. ‘Restless types are too full of grudges. What about Towzer?’
‘Most interesting. His is the insanity of the phlegmatic, Britain-can-take-it type. He has gone on taking it for so long that he no longer knows exactly what it is he is taking. With every pore wide open, he absorbs this unknown infliction, squeezing away his identity in order to give room to the stranger. By now, only his way of life remains true to his departed self: he continues
‘You most certainly deserve the lady’s appetite, Beaufort,’ agreed the captain. ‘A perfect presentation. I make bold to say that when you are old enough to try your hand on a case-history, not another member of the Club will hold a candle to you. But now, to business! What possibilities seemed best to you?’
‘Well, obviously the Chirk-Finch woman is ripe for re-identification. Naturally, I don’t know her history, but it is clear that she has not grasped herself for many years. It was my good luck to stumble on her just at a moment when, so to speak, the National Health Service was pointing an accusing finger at her suspended identity. There is no question, however, that her original name was Mrs Finch. According to the Electoral Register, which I went on to consult at the Post Office, there is no Mr or Miss Finch in the district, so we may assume she is a widow. She will not demand any great effort from us, poor thing: all she asks for herself is a fixed entity. In fact, the choice is open to us: we can strengthen her waning faith in herself as Finch, or we can follow National Health and recreate her as Chirk. This choice is fortunate forus since Mrs Jellicoe – I mean Miss Paradise – I mean – oh! dear I am confused myself.’
‘Gently, boy, gently!’ said the captain. ‘All is perfectly clear. You refer to our housekeeper, who is Mrs Henry Paradise to herself, Florence to me, and Florrie to your – ah! – stepmother.’
‘Exactly. Perhaps Mrs Paradise has known this woman under her obsolescent name of Finch. If so, we can get some idea of whether she is a good domestic. If Mrs Paradise says she is, we will drop the matter for a few days and then tell Mrs P. that Mrs Finch has been unable to come. We will then bring Mrs Finch to the house as another applicant, named Mrs Chirk.’
‘The other way round,’ said the captain. ‘We inform Mrs Paradise of an applicant named Chirk, who is new to these parts, and then we produce Mrs Finch, under the name of Chirk. Mrs P., who will have been feeling nervous at the thought of a strange domestic coming here, will be relieved to find that Mrs Chirk resembles closely a trustworthy female whose name she had forgotten but which she thinks was something like Finch. And yet, on the whole, I think there’s no doubt that the important thing is to establish Finch as Finch – to give her the feeling that no matter what National Health may think, she knows best who she is. If we confirm her as Finch, she will soon feel that this is the one place in the world where she has no reason to doubt her existence. In this respect, of course, she is quite the opposite of Mrs Paradise, who has needed to be totally re-identified in order to make the most of herself. … Well, what else have you brought from your fruitful “Surgery”?’
‘I think it clear that all three doctors have already lost almost all sense of personal distinctiveness. Dr Burke’s gestures and panting suggested a man bursting with emigration tendencies: only half his mind is chained to “Surgery”; the other half is already wearing pongee in Buenos Aires or helicoptering with a beard between Australian sheep-stations. I am not sure that we could allay this lust for a new beginning simply by bringing him here – unless, of course, we were able to convince him that he had spent his life in Australia and that this was the free, cultured world he had always dreamed of as the only way of realizing himself.’
‘Rule him out,’ said the captain. ‘Restless types are too full of grudges. What about Towzer?’
‘Most interesting. His is the insanity of the phlegmatic, Britain-can-take-it type. He has gone on taking it for so long that he no longer knows exactly what it is he is taking. With every pore wide open, he absorbs this unknown infliction, squeezing away his identity in order to give room to the stranger. By now, only his way of life remains true to his departed self: he continues
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