"Nonsense," said Daphne, detaining him.

"But supposing she has another puncture?"

"Yes, I can see you mending it on a day like this."

"It's very kind of you," said Miss Deriot, with a puzzled smile.

"Don't thank the fool," said my sister. "If I thought he'd be the
slightest use to you, I'd send him; but he only wants an excuse to get
out of going to church."

"Poor Jade," said her husband. "I am a knight, a simple starlit knight,
a Quixote of to-day. Your brutish instincts----"

"Carry on, Boy," said Daphne. I let in the clutch. "And come over this
afternoon, Agatha, and we'll tell you all about everything."

"Yes, do," cried Jill.

"All right," said Miss Deriot. "So long."

Three minutes later I was berthing the car close to the lich-gate in the
shade of sweet-smelling limes, that made a trembling screen of foliage
within the churchyard wall.

As luck would have it, Will Noggin, once a groom in our service and now
a trooper of the Dragoon Guards, was leaning lazily against the grey
wall, taking his ease. As we drew abreast of him, he stood to attention