"So I do. Very astute of you." Imitating her movement, he first probed the journal with the tip of his brolly, before reaching for it with his hand. John Steed was written in gilt script on the cover.
Maintaining an awareness of their environment at all times, he first flipped through the pages of the book, then began at the beginning and began to peruse the contents more thoroughly.
"I would say that we were needed, but I'm not sure that's the case here," he admitted. "And I don't believe Mother possesses quite this sense of humor. Besides, even if he had a hand in concocting the fabulous stories found on these pages, that wouldn't explain how he managed to transport us here without our realizing it. I'm inclining toward hallucination," he concluded. "Invisible gas, perhaps? Or something more insidious, perhaps contained in the print of my morning newspaper?"
Although the only headline he could actually recall at the moment was that involving Peter Peel. That was most likely not the culprit.