You mean she was you?

'Ratione?' said I.

'That's right,' averrèd he. 'I said my name was Victoria a bit earlier, but I lied.'

I stood stunned for a moment. 'So she was you?'

'That's right, sport.'

I said, 'Well, that was a rotten thing to do.'

Ratione's eyes sparkled and he let out a musty chuckle. 'I know how it may seem, Alfie. I knew you wouldn't like it, especially at first. But I had to.'

I looked bewildered at him. 'What?'

'I wanted to help you,' Ratione said. 'But before I did, I had to take on the only form you would understand.'

I furrowed my brow again, scratched my head. 'Um, how do you mean, sir?'

'Let's put it this way,' Ratione said. 'If I had come up to you in the lobby looking like this and said, "Excuse me, young man," what do you think you would have done?'

I looked at Ratione again, noted with a more critical glance the grizzled face, the fedora, the dusty suit. 'Probably gone to sleep,' I said, laughing for the first time that evening.