y love it,"
said Peggy with an encouraging smile.

"It isn't so bad," he replied.

"What none of us can quite understand, my dear fellow," said the Dean,
"is your shying at Durdlebury. As we have written you, everybody's
singing your praises. Not a soul but would have given you a hearty
welcome."

"Besides," Peggy chimed in, "you needn't have made an exhibition of
yourself in the town if you didn't want to. The poor Peddles are
woefully disappointed."

"There's a war going on. They must bear up--like lots of other
people," replied Doggie.

"He's becoming quite cynical," Peggy laughed. "But, apart from the
Peddles, there's your own beautiful house waiting for you. It seems so
funny not to go to it, instead of moping in these fusty lodgings."

"Perhaps," said Doggie quietly, "if I went there I should never want
to come back."

"There's something to be said from that point of view," the Dean
admitted. "A solution of continuity is never quite without its
dangers. Even Oliver confessed as much."

"Oliver?"

"Yes, didn't Peggy tell you?"

"I didn't think Marmaduke would be interested," said Peggy quickly.
"He and Oliver have never been what you might call bosom friends."

"I shouldn't have minded about hearing of him," said Doggie. "Why
should I? What's he doing?"

The Dean gave information. Oliver, now a captain, had come home on
leave a month ago, and had spent some of it at the Deanery. He had
seen a good deal of fighting, and had one or two narrow escapes.

"Was he keen to get back?" asked Doggie.

The Dean smiled. "I instanced his case in my remark as to the dangers
of the solution of continuity."

"Oh, rubbish, daddy," cried his daughter, with a flush, "Oliver is as
keen as mustard." The Dean made a little gesture of submission. She
continued. "He doesn't like the beastliness out there for its own
sake, any more than Marmaduke will. But he simply loves his job. He
has improved tremendously. Once he thought he was the only man in the
country who had seen Life stark naked, and he put on frills
accordingly Now that he's just one of a million who have been up
against Life stripped to its skeleton, he's a bit subdued."

"I'm glad of that," said Doggie.

The Dean, urbanely indulgent, joined his fingertips together and
smiled. "Peggy is right," said he, "although I don't wholly approve of
her modern lack of reticence in metaphor. Oliver is coming out true
gold from the fire. He's a capital fellow. And h