in that he was
wrong, for she was too surprised, relieved, and, yes, disturbed, to
think of him at all, she motioned the boy to go before her into the
dining-room.

As the Sunday joint was always served cold on Monday, they were all
there, even Betty, but owing, as at any rate most of them believed, to
the unfortunate discovery made by Dolly that the pre-war pound was now
only worth about seven and six, it was rather a mournful meal.

At last Rosamund went out to get the coffee, and then Janet addressed
her son: "Timmy," she observed, "I have something I wish to say to the
others, so will you please go and have your orange with Nanna?"

Timmy obeyed his mother without a word, and then, after the coffee had
come in and been poured out, Janet said slowly:

"I've had a letter from Mrs. Crofton, and as she asks me to tell you all
what is in it, I think it will be simpler if I read it out now."

She waited a moment, gathering up her courage, wondering the while
whether she was doing the best thing by Jack. On the whole she thought
_yes_. There are blows which are far better borne among one's fellows
than in solitude.

She wished to make her reading as colourless as possible, but she could
not keep a certain touch of sarcasm out of her voice as she read aloud
the first two sentences:

"Dearest Mrs. Tosswill,

"You have always been so kind to me that I feel I must write and tell
you why I am leaving the dear Trellis House and delightful Beechfield."

She looked up, but no one spoke; Jack was staring straight before him,
and she went on:

"To my _utter_ surprise a very old friend of my late husband's and mine
has asked me to be his wife. He is going back to India in a fortnight,
and so, much as I shrink from the thought of all the bustle and hurry
it will involve, I feel that as it must be now or never, it must be
_now_, and the fact that I have a good offer for The Trellis House
seemed to me a kind of sign-post.

"Though perhaps I ought not to say so, he is a splendid soldier and did
extremely well in the war. He won a bar to his M.C., which my husband
once told me would have won him a V.C. in any other war.

"He is anxious that I should not come down to Beechfield again. The
time is so short, and there is so much to be done, that I fear I shall
not see any of you before I leave for India. I would have liked
Rosamund to come to my wedding, but we shall be married very quietly,