Daisy caught and kissed her husband’s hand.  “How very charitable of you, Will!  You’re a perpetual antidote to my poison.  Did you observe Nick during the ceremony?  He was grinning like a Hindu idol—­just as if he’d done it all.”

“He has his finger in most pies,” observed Will.  “I daresay it wasn’t altogether absent from this one.  Muriel looked supremely proud of her C.S.I.”

“And she has reason to be,” declared Daisy warmly.  “He is quite a king in his own line.  I’m so glad he got the Star.”

“It’s time he got something of the sort certainly,” said Will.  “I suppose he’ll be good now for another six years.  Then he’ll send the boy to school and inveigle her back to the East.”

But Daisy shook her head.  “No.  I think she’ll keep him now.  This country is wanting men very badly—­and there’s plenty to be done.”

“Oh, he’s a bulwark of the Empire,” smiled Will.  “He’ll do the work of ten.  Where’s the kiddie gone?”

“She’s somewhere with Noel.  Did you see those two come out of church together?  It was the sweetest sight,” said Daisy with enthusiasm.

“She ought to have been walking with Reggie,” observed Will.

“Yes, I’m afraid she deserted him.  But he ran after Dr. Jim.  They are great pals.  But Peggy and Noel—­” Daisy suddenly laughed—­“oh, Will, I do love that boy!” she said.  “It is good to see him his gay, handsome self again.  See, there they are together now, sitting on the grass!  I wonder what they are talking about.”

“Probably discussing to-day’s event,” said Will.

“And wishing it had been their turn,” laughed Daisy.  A guess which, as it chanced, was not altogether wide of the mark!  Peggy, the while she leaned against her cavalier, was remarking at that very moment that she thought Midsummer Day the nicest day in all the year for a “weddin’.”

“Why?” said Noel.

“All the fairies gets married then,” said Peggy.

“Silly little duffers!” said Noel unsympathetically.

She looked at him round-eyed, then slipped a soft hand into his.  “Dear Noel, don’t you like weddin’s?”

Noel cut short an involuntary sigh.  “Not always, Peggy,” he said.

“Not when you’re best man and I’m chief bridesmaid?” persisted Peggy, with her cheek against his shoulder.

He laughed, without much gaiety.  “Oh, well, of course that makes a difference,” he said.

There was a pause during which Peggy rubbed her cheek up and down his coat in tender silence.  At last coaxingly, “Why didn’t you like this weddin’, dear Noel?” she asked.

But at that he broke into a half-shamed laugh and springing up snatched her high into his arms.  “I’ll tell you when we’re married, Peg-top,” he promised her.  “Till then—­let’s have some fun!”

“Yes, yes!” cried Peggy, laughing down at him alluringly.  “Let’s have some fun!”

And that ended the conversation.