The woman standing behind him, in a lilac-coloured gown, had one of those faces which remain innocent to the end of the chapter, in spite of the complete knowledge of life which appertains to mothers.  In days of suffering and anxiety, like these of the great war, Thirza Pierson was a valuable person.  Without ever expressing an opinion on cosmic matters, she reconfirmed certain cosmic truths, such as that though the whole world was at war, there was such a thing as peace; that though all the sons of mothers were being killed, there remained such a thing as motherhood; that while everybody was living for the future, the present still existed.  Her tranquil, tender, matter-of-fact busyness, and the dew in her eyes, had been proof against twenty-three years of life on a tea-plantation in the hot part of Ceylon; against Bob Pierson; against the anxiety of having two sons at the front, and the confidences of nearly every one she came across.  Nothing disturbed her.  She was like a painting of “Goodness” by an Old Master, restored by Kate Greenaway.  She never went to meet life, but when it came, made the best of it.  This was her secret, and Pierson always felt rested in her presence.

He rose, and moved by her side, over the lawn, towards the big tree at the bottom of the garden.

“How d’you think Noel is looking, Edward?”

“Very pretty.  That young man, Thirza?”

“Yes; I’m afraid he’s over head and ears in love with her.”

At the dismayed sound he uttered, she slipped her soft round arm within his.  “He’s going to the front soon, poor boy!”

“Have they talked to you?”

“He has.  Nollie hasn’t yet.”

“Nollie is a queer child, Thirza.”

“Nollie is a darling, but rather a desperate character, Edward.”

Pierson sighed.

In a swing under the tree, where the tea-things were set out, the “rather desperate character” was swaying.  “What a picture she is!” he said, and sighed again.

The voice of his brother came to them,—­high and steamy, as though corrupted by the climate of Ceylon: 

“You incorrigible dreamy chap, Ted!  We’ve eaten all the raspberries.  Eve, give him some jam; he must be dead!  Phew! the heat!  Come on, my dear, and pour out his tea.  Hallo, Cyril!  Had a good bathe?  By George, wish my head was wet!  Squattez-vous down over there, by Nollie; she’ll swing, and keep the flies off you.”

“Give me a cigarette, Uncle Bob—­”

“What!  Your father doesn’t—­”

“Just for the flies.  You don’t mind, Daddy?”

“Not if it’s necessary, my dear.”

Noel smiled, showing her upper teeth, and her eyes seemed to swim under their long lashes.

“It isn’t necessary, but it’s nice.”

“Ah, ha!” said Bob Pierson.  “Here you are, Nollie!”

But Noel shook her head.  At that moment she struck her father as startlingly grown-up-so composed, swaying above that young man at her feet, whose sunny face was all adoration.  ‘No longer a child!’ he thought.  ‘Dear Nollie!’