‘And How Is Johnny’s Whooping-Cough?’ – Douglas Goldring

At one of Ford’s tea parties I remember seeing a little, quiet, grey old man wearing a red tie who turned out to be Thomas Hardy. I was standing next to Hugh Walpole at the back of the room, when he was pointed out to me. The conversation among the lion cubs in our neighbourhood was no doubt very brilliant and very ‘literary’, but suddenly there came the usual inexplicable hush. It was broken by Hardy, who, turning to an elderly lady by his side, remarked ‘And how is Johnny’s WhoopingCough?’ (p. 99).