Hector Bliss, ex-officer, ex-teacher, ex-husband, ex-father, and general ex-has-been, is offered a job that is cushy, congenial, and overpaid, in the south of France in summertime. So what is wrong with it? His fellow-employee, Dr. Constance Marshall, is not happy about it either, but will not tell him why. And why too is it about evil philanthropists, ex-Nazis, Polish tennis-players, adopted children, and dumb blondes from Earlsfield? What...