TOM did not come home till March, and the baby had been christened before he arrived, Thyrza having proved too soft to resist ecclesiastical pressure. But her husband was not so disappointed as she had feared. Indeed, Tom’s whole attitude towards the miracle she had wrought in his absence puzzled her a little.

She had met him at the cottage door with the baby in her arms, and after their first greeting he had said:

“Put the baby down, Thyrza. I can’t kiss you praaperly.” Then, with his face hidden in her neck, had murmured: “It’s my wife I want.”

“But aun’t you justabout pleased wud your boy, dear?” she asked him later, when they were having tea and eggs in a ............