- Hobby-horses. Obsession makes logic go out the window. Toby is so excited that he orders his manservant, Trim, to pack him up. They sneak out and they go to Shandy Hall. Why?
- Trim suggested to Toby that they'd have all the space they needed for their models at Shandy Hall. And the introduction of a new character (Trim) means…
- It's time for a digression (getting used to these yet?)
- We learn that Trim (A.K.A. James Butler) was a corporal who had been wounded two years before the siege of Namur. Toby took him into service, and Trim is so faithful that he's even developed his own obsession with fortifications.
- Tristram confesses that Trim has one fault: he gives advice. True, he gives polite advice, but he still gives advice, and who wants a servant giving advice?
- In this case, his advice to Toby is to head for a little house he owns near Shandy Hall.