r brother, and are all greatly excited at the prospect of seeing
him after so many years, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." What is one to
do with people who write like that? Just at the end she would say,
"Will paid us a flying visit last week, and promised to come again next
Saturday. Believe me, dear Una..." Her letters left me as hungry and
dissatisfied as when they arrived, but they brought all the news I had
for three long months.

At home the atmosphere was very bright and cheery, for Vere improved so
quickly that she and Jim actually began to talk of marriage in the
summer. The old doctor came up and croaked warnings when he heard of
it. He said that Vere would need care for a long time to come, and that
in his opinion it would be wiser to wait until she was perfectly
strong--say a matter of two or three years longer; but Jim just laughed
in his face, and said he flattered himself that he could take better
care of his wife than anyone else could possibly do. So it was settled,
and the astounding marvel has come to pass that Vere is so engrossed in
thinking about Jim and their future life together, that she is
comparatively indifferent to clothes. When I sounded her as to
bridesmaids' costume, she said: "Oh, settle it yourself, dear. I don't
mind, so long as you are pleased!" Two years ago she would have
insisted on my wearing saffron, if it had been the fashionable colour,
and have worried the whole household into fits about the shape of the
sleeves! She is so loving and sweet to mother, too, not only in words,
but in a hundred taking-pains kind of ways, and she never jeers or hurts
my feelings as she used to do. Jim is going to have a very nice wife,
and he deserves it, dear old patient thing!

In November, just as it was all settled about the wedding, Spencer came
home from Malta, and stayed for a month. We were all simply bursting
with pride over him, and the whole neighbourhood came up in batches to
do obeisance. Why one should be prouder of a soldier who has never even
seen a fight than of a nice, hard-working clerk, I can't think, but the
fact remains that you _are_, and I did wish it were the fashion for
Spencer to wear his lovely uniform, instead of a dull grey tweed suit
like anybody else! The whole family was busy and happy and engrossed in
the present. Nobody guessed what years those weeks seemed to me. I was
quite bright all day long, but when I got to bed...

So the time went on, one