Fen was a non-conforming hero. Not for him the stoic acceptance of discomfort. When stung by a bee (Buried For Pleasure) he expected full attention and sympathy, and was hurt when the Rector ignores his plight. When knocked out in the maze in Frequent Hearses he insisted on getting his head dressed in a melodramatic and elaborate fashion. When he was kidnapped, trussed and almost gassed in Holy Disorders, his immediate reaction was to assume he was immune to gas, and then to sulk when told he wasn’t. But his mind continued to function even when faced with the gravest personal danger, as he showed when he unleashed a plague of insects on Henry James in Holy Disorders. His alertness was less evident, however when he walked into a trap of his own making in Love Lies Bleeding, and more or less prepared himself for the end.