he would recover again,
now that they were all left to themselves.

The sermon contained many repetitions and a quantity of split
infinitives. The Padre had once openly stated that Shakespeare was good
enough for him, and that Shakespeare was guilty of many split
infinitives. On that occasion there had nearly been a breach between him
and Mistress Mapp, for Mistress Mapp had said, "But then you are not
Shakespeare, dear Padre." And he could find nothing better to reply than
"Hoots!".... There was nothing more of interest about the sermon.

At the end of the service Miss Mapp lingered in the church looking at
the lovely decorations of holly and laurel, for which she was so largely
responsible, until her instinct assured her that everybody else had
shaken hands and was wondering what to say next about Christmas. Then,
just then, she hurried out.

They were all there, and she came like the late and honoured guest (Poor
Diva).

"Diva, darling," she said. "Merry Christmas! And Evie! And the Padre.
Padre dear, thank you for your sermon! And Major Benjy! Merry Christmas,
Major Benjy. What a small company we are, but not the less Christmassy.
No Mr. Wyse, no Susan, no Isabel. Oh, and no Captain Puffin. Not quite
well again, Major Benjy? Tell me about him. Those dreadful fits of
dizziness. So hard to understand."

She beautifully succeeded in detaching the Major from the rest. With the
peace that had descended on Tilling, she had forgiven him for having
been made a fool of by the Contessa.

"I'm anxious about my friend Puffin," he said. "Not at all up to the
mark. Most depressed. I told him he had no business to be depressed.
It's selfish to be depressed, I said. If we were all depressed it would
be a dreary world, Miss Elizabeth. He's sent for the doctor. I was to
have had a round of golf with Puffin this afternoon, but he doesn't feel
up to it. It would have done him much more good than a host of doctors."

"Oh, I wish I could play golf, and not disappoint you of your round,
Major Benjy," said she.

Major Benjy seemed rather to recoil from the thought. He did not
profess, at any rate, any sympathetic regret.

"And we were going to have had our Christmas dinner together to-night,"
he said, "and spend a jolly evening afterwards."

"I'm sure quiet is the best thing for Captain Puffin with his
dizziness," said Miss Mapp firmly.

A sudden audacity seized her. Here was the Major feeling lonely as
regards his Christmas