there.’

She watched him steadily while he spoke.

‘But we didn’t imagine them,’ she said sharply.

‘There’s nothing to imagine, that’s why they don’t exist.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I would hardly go as far as that. There they are, whether they exist or no. It doesn’t rest with me to decide on their existence. I only know that I can’t be expected to take count of them all. You can’t expect me to know them, just because they happen to be there. As far as I go they might as well not be there.’

‘Exactly,’ he replied.

‘Mightn’t they?’ she asked again.