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Norman Lewis - The World, the world

Oliver Myers was back in the Middle East, although archaeological digs were now a thing of the Past. In the four years since our last meeting at Stonehenge, he had entered the Diplomatic
Service, but we continued to keep in contact by letter. Having discovered that the Air France plane from Paris to Saigon stopped at Beirut, it was my hope to be able to break my joumey there and
see something of him again.

When in London I liked to stay, as before, with the Corvajas, with whom I remained on affectionate terms, although there was something unreal in the tacit and never-questioned assumption that Ernestina would eventually reappear.

It was to this address that I arranged for the proofs of Within the Labyrinth to be sent so that I could correct them before leaving.

The proofs, however failed to arrive so I rang up the publisher and was told that by mistake they had been sent to 4 Gordon Square. This was about a hundred yards away so I walked across to collect them, only to discover that a second Norman Lewis lived at this address, and that he too, was a Cape author who had recently completed a hugely successful updated version of Rogets Thesaurus.

Unfortunately, I was told, the second N-L. had left the country only two days before, and was presumed to have taken my proofs with him. Three days later I stepped down from the Air France plane at Beirut, where Oliver awaited me. 'We're having a little party for you at the ernbassy,' he said, and rninutes later I suffered a surprise frorn which I have never wholly recovered, for the first introduction was to the man with whom I shared names, who had also stopped off at Beirut on his way to some Eastem destination.

It was a circumstance that further encouraged Oliver's fascination with the Paranormal, and inspired him to begin a work to be entitled The Mechanisms of Coincidence, although the book was never finished.