“Please have my uniform left out for me,” I said, “I shall put it on before dinner.”

“Surely,” said my wife, “you’re not going out to-night? I don’t think you ought to.”

“Duty, my dear,” I said.

“Just fancy,” said Janet, “if the Germans came and father wasn’t there! We might be murdered in our beds!”

I am sometimes not quite sure whether Janet means to scoff or is in serious earnest On this occasion I was inclined to think that she was poking fun at the Veterans’ Corps. I frowned at her.

“You’ll get dreadfully wet,” said my wife.

“Not the least harm in that,” I said cheerily.

“It’ll give you another cold in your head,” said Janet

This time she was certainly sneering. I frowned again.

“Of course,” said my wife, “it won’t matter to you. You’re so strong and healthy. Nothing does you any harm.”