Peter Fern was mad on mountains. Climbing was the love of his life. Church towers, seaside cliffs, rock faces, ice mountains, anything --- "If it's there," he used to say, "then I want to climb it." so the news of his marriage gave me surprise. I'd never known him to take much interest in girls. Well, well, Peter Fern, a married man! I couldn't get over it. I wondered whether his wife would try to stop some of his risky adventures.  She was French perhaps --- from that place where he usually spent his holidays. Chamonix, wasn't it? From Chamonix he's climbed Mont. Blanc on his seventeenth birthday, and one of the Aifuilles the day after! That was it, then; she was French, from a family, most of whom liked climbing. No doubt --- No other explanation.  A month later I met them both in town. Anna surprised me because she was English. She was a dancer in the theatre. "never climbed more than sixty steps in my life." she told me. "Peter has his interests, and I've got mine. No problem." "None at all, " Peter said, smiling. "Where did you spend your honeymoon?" I asked. "Somewhere far from theater and mountains, was it?" "We had a week's holiday," Anna  said, "I flew toprefix = st1 /New Yorkto see the drake Dancers on Broadway. a wonderful show!" Peter said, "Didn't want to miss the good weather. So I went toSwitzerlandand climbed the north face of the Eiger with Allen Dunlop. Great fun, the Eiger. Grand place for a honeymoon! I'll show you the photographs we took one day." The writer had thought the only reason why Fern married was that the girl   _
might be French living near the mountain, and from a mountaineer family would not stop his climbing perhaps liked French might like climbing the mountain, too