rush_ back at once....
You'll excuse me?"

"That Rossiter woman is quite off her head with grandeur," said Lady
Vera to Lady Helen. "I expect Uncle Algy has let out that her
husband is in the New Year's honours."

And so he was. But Uncle Algy, though he might have babbled to his
nieces, had not written a word to the Rossiters. So they just
enjoyed Christmas--too much, they thought, more than any Christmas
before--in the simple satisfaction of being Colonel and Mrs.
Rossiter, all in all to each other, but rendered additionally happy
by making those about them happy. The little Adamses staggered under
their presents and had a Christmas Tree to which they were allowed
to ask their two grannies--Mrs. Laidly from Fig Tree Court and Mrs.
Adams from the Kilburn Laundry--and numerous little friends from
Marylebone, who had been washed and curled and crimped and adjured
not to disgrace their parents, _or_ father--in the trenches--would
be told "as sure as I stand here."

(The little Adamses were also warned that if they _ever_ again were
heard calling Mrs. Rossiter "Gran'ma," they'd--but the threat was
too awful to be uttered, especially as their mother at this time was
always on the verge of tears, either at getting no news of Bert or
at the unforgettable kindness of Bert's employer.)

Mrs. Rossiter, quite unaware that she was soon to be a Dame, gave
Christmas entertainments at St. Dunstan's, at the Marylebone
Workhouse, and to all the wounded soldiers in the parish. And on
December 31, 1916, Michael received a note from the Prime Minister
to say that His Majesty, in recognition of his exceptional services
in curative surgery at the front, had been pleased to bestow on him
a Knight Commandership of the Bath. "So that, Linda, you can call
yourself Lady Rossiter, and you will have to get some new cards
printed for both of us."

Linda didn't feel quite that ecstasy over her title that she had
expected in her day-dreams. She was getting a little frightened at
her happiness. Generations of Puritan forefathers and mothers had
left some influence of Calvinism on her mentality. She was brought
up to believe in a jealous God, whose Providence when you felt too
happy on earth just landed you in some unexpected disaster to fit
you for the Kingdom of Heaven--a Kingdom which all healthy human
beings shrink from entering with the terror of the unknown and a
certain homeliness of disposition which is humbly content with this
cosy pla