MR. STONE AND THE KNIGHTS COMPANION

Mr. Stone, at 62, is a Prufrockian bachelor waning away in the even tenor of his days. Only a pepper-dust war with the garden-wrecking neighbor cat brings excitement to the life he considers "as something to be moved through". Even his well loved numbers have lost their consoling appeal—30 years as "industrial librarian" with Excal, 45 years since his mother died—leaving him alone and painfully aware of his approaching retirement. In a last-ditch stand he marries Mrs. Springer and steps gradually into variations on his well-worn habitual theme; until one day, with a flash of insight, he conceives of..."The Plan". A unit of retired Excal employees recalled to service in a door-to-door reacquaintance campaign, the "Knights Companion" (as Whymper, the irritating PRO named them much against Mr. Stone's humble design) were to visit other pensioners with a small gift from the company. Mr. Stone gets a promotion and an inward thrill from the success of his personal plan for the aged. But, after a moment of brilliance, the founder of the Unit is forgotten and Mr. Stone returns to his niche as a useless servant about to be discarded. He is, chivalry to no avail, a finished item. The novel is unassuming, understated, and British in tone with the ennui of an effete existence counterpointed by the style. Effective and a little over-poignant, but Mr. Stone is not alone.