Jim's precautions were quite unnecessary. He
also said--But perhaps it's hardly fair to tell you that!"

"What?" said Daisy eagerly. "Of course tell me! Tell me at once, Will!"

Will smiled again. "Well, if I must! He told me that Max himself was
anything but as serene as he looked and had been dosing with bromide to
steady his nerves."

Daisy broke into a laugh. "No, you certainly shouldn't have told me
that! How mean of Sir Kersley! Still, it's nice to know that Max is a
little human now and then. I shall like him better now. And so I don't
mind telling you something in return. I've been making the most discreet
enquiries, and I haven't unearthed the vaguest rumour of that tale Major
Hunt-Goring told me. I believe it was all his own invention after all."

"Very likely," said Will. "Opium-smokers often get delusions."

Daisy caught and kissed her husband's hand. "How very charitable of you,
Will! You're a perpetual antidote to my poison. Did you observe Nick
during the ceremony? He was grinning like a Hindu idol--just as if he'd
done it all."

"He has his finger in most pies," observed Will. "I daresay it wasn't
altogether absent from this one. Muriel looked supremely proud of her
C.S.I."

"And she has reason to be," declared Daisy warmly. "He is quite a king
in his own line. I'm so glad he got the Star."

"It's time he got something of the sort certainly," said Will. "I
suppose he'll be good now for another six years. Then he'll send the boy
to school and inveigle her back to the East."

But Daisy shook her head. "No. I think she'll keep him now. This country
is wanting men very badly--and there's plenty to be done."

"Oh, he's a bulwark of the Empire," smiled Will. "He'll do the work of
ten. Where's the kiddie gone?"

"She's somewhere with Noel. Did you see those two come out of church
together? It was the sweetest sight," said Daisy with enthusiasm.

"She ought to have been walking with Reggie," observed Will.

"Yes, I'm afraid she deserted him. But he ran after Dr. Jim. They are
great pals. But Peggy and Noel--" Daisy suddenly laughed--"oh, Will, I
do love that boy!" she said. "It is good to see him his gay, handsome
self again. See, there they are together now, sitting on the grass! I
wonder what they are talking about."

"Probably discussing to-day's event," said Will.

"And wishing it had been their turn," laughed Daisy. A guess which, as
it chanced, was not altogether wide of the mark! Peggy, t