44 Scotland Street. The Prime of Bertie Pollock, Chapter 57: Et in Arctica ego

Over the days that followed, Bertie settled into his new routine. He still felt perplexed by the strangeness of everything, and, in particular, by his inability to understand anything that anybody said. But with the aid of his translation programme, he found that not only could he work out roughly what was going on but could also make himself understood. At school, his new friend Hughie, although by no means a substitute for Ranald Braveheart Macpherson – whose company Bertie missed keenly – was...