"Those are different," I said. "They've waited a long time, and it won't hurt them to wait a little longer. The one I want came yesterday, and required an immediate answer. I remember it quite distinctly."
"Why not answer it, then, without finding it? I'll dictate to you:--'Dear Sir or Madam,--In answer to your obliging letter, I beg to say that I much regret I shall be unable to attend the meeting of the blank committee on the blank of blank, owing to a previous engagement to be present at the meeting of the blank association for the blank blank blank. I enclose herewith my subscription of blank, and remain, with apologies for my delay, yours blankly, etc., etc.' Fire away; you can't go wrong."
"I am not sure," I said, "that I like all those blanks. It's a good model, of course, but it's just a bit too sketchy."
"If you remember the letter so perfectly you can fill in the blanks as you go along."
"I didn't say I remembered it so perfectly as all that. I remember getting it. I remember it was marked 'Urgent and confidential' or 'Private and immediate,' or something of that kind, and I remember putting it down on this writing-table and making up my mind to answer it at once, but I don't remember who it was from----"
"Amiable pedant! I don't remember who my importunate correspondent was, or what address he or she wrote from, or what it was about. It was one of those letters that produce a general sense of discomfort, the sort you want to forget but can't."
"Oh, but _you_ can. I never heard of anything so completely forgotten as this unfortunate letter."
"Really," I said, "you drive me to despair. Can't you see that a man may remember the _existence_ of a letter without remembering all its petty details? For instance, I know there's a Sultan of Morocco, but I don't know what he's like, or what his name is, or how he's dressed, or what his exact colour is. Still, there he is, you know."
"Oh, I don't know. Morocco, I suppose, would find him."
"Then all you've got to do is to write him a respectful letter, saying that you can't accept his Majesty's kind invitation to the small and early dance at the Palace."
"I am not," I said, "in a humour for frivolity. I want to write a letter."