rsation with Doctor Mary, in spite of
that mishap of the combination knife-and-fork.

CHAPTER VI

ODD STORY OF CAPTAIN DUGGLE

Christmas Day of 1918 was a merry feast, and nowhere merrier than at Old
Place. There was a house-party and, for dinner on the day itself, a local
contingent as well: Miss Wall, the Irechesters, Mr. Penrose, and Doctor
Mary. Mr. Beaumaroy also had been invited by Mrs. Naylor; she considered
him an interesting man and felt pity for the obvious _ennui_ of his
situation; but he had not felt able to leave his old friend. Doctor
Mary's Paying Guest was of the house-party, not merely a dinner guest.
She was asked over to spend three days and went, accompanied by Jeanne,
who by this time was crying much less; crying was no longer the cue; her
mistress, and not merely stern Doctor Mary, had plainly shown her that.
Gertie Naylor had invited Cynthia to help her in entertaining the
subalterns, though Gertie was really quite equal to that task herself;
there were only three of them, and if a pretty girl is not equal to three
subalterns, well, what are we coming to in England? And, as it turned
out, Miss Gertie had to deal with them all, sometimes collectively,
sometimes one by one, practically unassisted. Cynthia was otherwise
engaged. Gertie complained neither of the cause nor of its consequence.

The drink, or drugs, hypothesis was exploded, and Miss Wall's
speculations set at rest, with a quite comforting solatium of romantic
and unhappy interest, "a nice tit-bit for the old cat," as Mr. Naylor
unkindly put it. Cynthia had told her story; she wanted a richer sympathy
than Doctor Mary's common-sense afforded; out of this need the revelation
came to Gertie in innocent confidence, and, with the narrator's tacit
approval, ran through the family and its intimate friends. If Cynthia had
been as calculating as she was guileless, she could not have done better
for herself. Mrs. Naylor's motherliness, old Naylor's courtliness,
Gertie's breathless concern and avid appetite for the fullest detail,
everybody's desire to console and cheer, all these were at her service,
all enlisted in the effort to make her forget, and live and laugh again.
Her heart responded; she found herself becoming happy at a rate which
made her positively ashamed. No wonder tactful Jeanne discovered that the
cue was changed!

Fastidious old Naylor regarded his wife with the affection of habit and
with a little disdain for the ord