"Well," Regan says cheerfully -- Gabriel, beside her, is back to deliberately dignified silence -- "Dennis eventually insisted that as a guest, he should try the specialty of the house."

"I think he made it up on the spot. I never did dare ask what was in the thing."

What Regan is not saying: Gabriel, at Simon's age, was at first endearingly awkward that evening, and thereafter proved to be quite an adorable drunk.