BOOT-IN-ESKDALE.... [a] place where the census list discloses rather more sheepdogs than human beings. And the humans, such as they are, have forgotten the English language on account of the scarcity of non-ovine and non-bovine interlocutors.

Boot-in-Eskdale is where Vince Mori, father of the narrator of this novel, visits one of hs mistresses, Lorna Butterskate, an artistic lady potter. Vince has won her affections as a result of his liberal supply of exotic ice cream (he runs an ice-cream van). The romance comes to an abrupt