e seemed to be listening. Yet she had either missed to hear or, hearing, had missed to unders

o," she said. H

e person's playin' a

. There's no trick about it. Go an' see f

ct theirs on the Quay. By tradition each housewife takes post on her own threshold-slate, and knits while she talks with her neighbours to right and left and across the road; thus a bit of news, with comment and embellishment zigzags from door to door through the town

le of blue papers. They were Mr Irons, the chief officer of Coastguard at Troy, and a young custom-ho

thdrew his h

Sam?" h

y Bosistow's to fe

with two fingers. "Is the world come to its end, then, t

it, fingerin' (God help me) the clothes an' prayin' no shell to strike en, here or there. . . . Well, an' last autumn, bein' up to Plymouth, he bought an extry pair of sea-boots, Yarmouth-made, off some Stores on the Barbican, an' handed 'em

n, all this," said N

furnicher to be shifted an' (what's harder) stowed in a pokey little cottage that wasn' none too big for Aun' Bunney when she lived. An' sixteen steps up t

t. Pamphlett's served me with notice to qui

n't set yourself up to fly

w all the law that's in the land, neither, if

h standin' 'pon its head, 'tis excusable. The children, now-out an' runnin' the town in the Sunday clothes with never a

t a shave," said Nicky-Nan. "T

. On an impulse she said, "An' when you've done, Mr Nanjivell, there'll be

d at the board, already plying their spoons in bowls of bread-and-milk. As a rule, like other healthy children, they ate first and talked afte

" she mused. "Where d

t go on with your breakfast." But Mrs Penha

undle say it made her feel like the bottom of her stomach was fallin

s spoon and pointed a finger on the third button of his small waistcoat. "An' it

it ben't real," com

then it's creepin' up the back of your legs an' along your arms, an' up your backbone, right into the roots o' your hair. But the funniest thing of all is, the place looks so differ'nt-an' all the more because there's so little happenin' differ'n

Father's put on his uniform. How can you make

des nodded, over his

ky-

hat isn' because of

se he's turnin'

ren, eat up your mea

d from the hearth to t

ing bacon. "Wherever y

cuse their manner

at young 'Bert from unde

was turnin' out thi

day before yesterday. He was

get worse and worse!" h

k of the builder-ma

ste

over the back o' the house. I heard him say as you was done fo

y-Nan was arising in

on coaxed hi

o' the field, and I can vouch the eggs to be new-laid. Sufficient for the day. . . . An' here 'tis the

d that m

gs and bacon wooing his nostrils, his choler arose and choked him. He stared around the cleanly k

e image to her)-"I reckon as the hen's home is wherever she can gather the chickens under her wing

ort. "Seemin' to me you're all taken up with it. A

ty'll send my Sam h

an A.B.; blue jumper and trousers, white cinglet edged with blue around his stout throat, loose black neck-cloth and lanyard white

med to be a sensible relief to him. "Haven't ate all the eggs, I hope? For I be hungry as a hunter. . . . Well, so it's War for sure, and a man must go off to do hi

't-a?" responded 'Beida

uldn' have married Mother years afore he did-an'

e, appealing to her to enjoy the joke, but hastily averted his eyes. "Well, now, I'll tell ye, sonny-if it's strictly atween you an' me an' the bedpost. I asked her half a

rted to scold the children furiously for dawdling over breakfast, when goodness knew, w

her turned to the fireplace and set the saucepan hissing again. Having finished this second

ce. Nicky, though ravenous, behaved politely, and

id Mr Penhaligon, by way of making con

Nicky-Na

my reck'nin' 'tis goin' to be a long business. . . . I don't tell the Missus that, you'll understand? But I'd ta

said Nicky-Nan,

he wants he thinks he's bound

then: nor t

old beam whence the key depended. "To think that I be eatin' the last meal in this old kitchen. An' yet so many have eaten meals here an' warmed theirselves in their time. Y

the street. The brakes were arriving at the bridge-end. He suggested that-his own kit b

proaching in uniform, slipped down from the parapet of the bridge,

assured him. "Don't want no summons, more

ade out when you get to St Ma

takes orders i

Coastguard, who had strolled up. "The brake'll be arriving in t

in tones unnaturally confident and robustious, the last brake rattled up to the bridge-end

edge of the uplands stood the outposts of the corn, yellowing to harvest: over all the assured God of their fathers reigned in the August heaven. Not a soul present had ever harboured one malevolent tho

e brake to another, calling out names and di

pon it and limped forward. "Why, the man's no use. Look at his

way," said he-and Nicky took it. "You'd b

he procession started, all on board waved their caps and broke out singing. They were Cornish-men and knew no music-hall songs-"It'

Lily-of

y-s

ough the street and away up the hill. The crowd lingere

d the blue paper which the young officer had thrust int

he Royal Arms, and

V.

Servi

om

aval Reserve, Roya

y. NICHOLAS

lp

AL NAVAL RESERVE TO

40, the ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE FORCE in which you are enrolled, you are required to report yourself at once in unif

to the Naval Depot and should bri

ime to attend at once or at the hour specified, you should on it

thout delay will render you l

incurred in travelling fro

com

ohns, Re

econd day of