ing process. She could just see the neat
ruck above his knees where he had pulled his trousers up, and thought:
'Val's forgotten to pull up his!' Her eyes passed to the pew in front of
her, where Winifred's substantial form was gowned with passion, and on
again to Soames and Annette kneeling side by side. A little smile came
on her lips--Prosper Profond, back from the South Seas of the Channel,
would be kneeling too, about six rows behind. Yes! This was a funny
"small" business, however it turned out; still it was in a proper church
and would be in the proper papers to-morrow morning.

They had begun a hymn; she could hear the ninth baronet across the aisle,
singing of the hosts of Midian. Her little finger touched Val's
thumb--they were holding the same hymn-book--and a tiny thrill passed
through her, preserved--from twenty years ago. He stooped and whispered:

"I say, d'you remember the rat?" The rat at their wedding in Cape
Colony, which had cleaned its whiskers behind the table at the
Registrar's! And between her little and third forgers she squeezed his
thumb hard.

The hymn was over, the prelate had begun to deliver his discourse. He
told them of the dangerous times they lived in, and the awful conduct of
the House of Lords in connection with divorce. They were all
soldiers--he said--in the trenches under the poisonous gas of the Prince
of Darkness, and must be manful. The purpose of marriage was children,
not mere sinful happiness.

An imp danced in Holly's eyes--Val's eyelashes were meeting. Whatever
happened; he must not snore. Her finger and thumb closed on his thigh
till he stirred uneasily.

The discourse was over, the danger past. They were signing in the
vestry; and general relaxation had set in.

A voice behind her said:

"Will she stay the course?"

"Who's that?" she whispered.

"Old George Forsyte!"

Holly demurely scrutinized one of whom she had often heard. Fresh from
South Africa, and ignorant of her kith and kin, she never saw one without
an almost childish curiosity. He was very big, and very dapper; his eyes
gave her a funny feeling of having no particular clothes.

"They're off!" she heard him say.

They came, stepping from the chancel. Holly looked first in young Mont's
face. His lips and ears were twitching, his eyes, shifting from his feet
to the hand within his arm, stared suddenly before them as if to face a
firing party. He gave Holly the feeling that he was