A Pocket Full of Rye

The action returns to the offices of the Fortescue firm. The secretaries are once more at work. Lance arrives and instantly charms Miss Griffith, who remembers him from his early years at the firm. Lance goes to Percival’s office, surprised to see a new secretary at Miss Grosvenor’s desk and Neele inside the office. Neele expresses surprise that Lance is serious about staying in London, but Lance claims that he must take up his family responsibilities as his father did. When Neele mentions his mother as a possible influence on his temperament, Lance calls her a “Victorian romantic” and describes himself, in contrast, as someone with “very little sense of romance. [He’s] a realist first and last” (202). Lance confesses, however, that he secretly plans to return to Africa. Neele seems sympathetic to Lance’s claims that Percival always seems to arrange life to his benefit.

Changing the subject, Neele shows Lance a letter he found among Rex’s papers at Yewtree Lodge, referencing a return in the fall. Lance claims that he sent the letter to the office, but his father must have taken it to the house to prevent Percival from finding it. Percival arrives, and Lance deliberately antagonizes him.