" John dear!" said I in the gentlest voice, " the key is down by the front steps, under a plantain leaf!" That silenced him for a few moments.Then he said—very quietly indeed, " Open the door, my darling!" " I can't," said I. " The key is down by the front door under a plantain leaf!" And then I said it again, several times, very gently and slowly, and said it so often that he had to go and see, and he got it of course, and came in. "