“Well, who? You never saw a neighbourhood with less men. There’s Mr. Sheldon, and Dr. Nelson, but he’s married with grown-up daughters, and the vicar, but he’s an old man, sixty-five at least. There’s Colonel Haines, he’s not young, of course, but he’s nice looking; but it certainly isn’t him, for although Miss Haines has been very kind Sheila doesn’t seem to like her or her father, and never goes near them. Mr. Sheldon has a half-brother, known locally as Mr. Dick; he’s young and attractive, I believe, but he’s in the Army and has never been home since we’ve been here, and as a matter of fact local gossip says that he and little Barbara Haines are very sweet on each other. In fact I think the village expected a wedding before this.”

“I can tell you about that if that’s the man she’s fond of. When we were in the train she told me she couldn’t do anything to upset her father as he’d been ill. She said she couldn’t go and do war work or anything, but I guessed she was talking about getting married.”

“Poor little girl! What a shame! Still, the colonel has been terribly ill, I believe, and he’s very dependent on his daughter. I dare say she’s done right to put off marriage until he’s stronger.”

“I should have thought, if he’s in the Army, she could have got married and then lived at home.”

“It wouldn’t be the same thing; there’s no security in a married daughter, her husband has first right. Mind you, of course, I’m sure her father doesn’t know she wants to get married; they say he’s a very fine man, and I’m certain he would be horrified if he knew he was standing in her way. I expect he’s as surprised as anyone that she hasn’t announced her engagement.”

“What’s his name besides Mr. Dick?”

“I haven’t any idea. I’ve heard little Iris speak of him, and, of course, she calls him Uncle Dick. Whenever he’s spoken of in the village it’s either as ‘Mr. Dick, him that’s half-brother to Mr. Sheldon’, or else as ‘Mr. Dick, him who’s sweet on Miss Barbara’. They keep a special voice for him as they do for Mr. Sheldon; they’ve belonged here for generations and are accepted and looked up to; it’s rather as though they were relations who’d done well in the world. We don’t seem to have that sort of connection with people in London.”

“Getting quite a country bumpkin, aren’t you, darling! You’ve even caught the accent.”