en got down and kissed him
between the eyes and said, 'Monday, old duck, won't you come up with us
just for the evening?' And Monday said--he did!--'I am very sorry but I
can't. I've got a date to meet Jem here, you know, and there's a train
goes through at eight.'

"It's lovely to have Walter back again though he seems quiet and sad,
just as he was at Christmas. But I'm going to love him hard and cheer
him up and make him laugh as he used to. It seems to me that every day
of my life Walter means more to me.

"The other evening Susan happened to say that the mayflowers were out
in Rainbow Valley. I chanced to be looking at mother when Susan spoke.
Her face changed and she gave a queer little choked cry. Most of the
time mother is so spunky and gay you would never guess what she feels
inside; but now and then some little thing is too much for her and we
see under the surface. 'Mayflowers!' she said. 'Jem brought me
mayflowers last year!' and she got up and went out of the room. I would
have rushed off to Rainbow Valley and brought her an armful of
mayflowers, but I knew that wasn't what she wanted. And after Walter
got home last night he slipped away to the valley and brought mother
home all the mayflowers he could find. Nobody had said a word to him
about it--he just remembered himself that Jem used to bring mother the
first mayflowers and so he brought them in Jem's place. It shows how
tender and thoughtful he is. And yet there are people who send him
cruel letters!

"It seems strange that we can go in with ordinary life just as if
nothing were happening overseas that concerned us, just as if any day
might not bring us awful news. But we can and do. Susan is putting in
the garden, and mother and she are housecleaning, and we Junior Reds
are getting up a concert in aid of the Belgians. We have been
practising for a month and having no end of trouble and bother with
cranky people. Miranda Pryor promised to help with a dialogue and when
she had her part all learnt her father put his foot down and refused to
allow her to help at all. I am not blaming Miranda exactly, but I do
think she might have a little more spunk sometimes. If she put her foot
down once in a while she might bring her father to terms, for she is
all the housekeeper he has and what would he do if she 'struck'? If I
were in Miranda's shoes I'd find some way of managing
Whiskers-on-the-moon. I would horse-whip him, or bite him, if nothing
else would ser