"That only leaves me to fight," said Dorothy.
"I wasn't thinking of you, Michael. Or of Dorothy."
They all looked at him where he sat, upright and noble, in his chair, and most absurdly young.
Dorothy said under her breath: "Oh, you darling Daddy."
"You won't be allowed to go, anyhow," said John to his father. "You needn't think it."
"Why not?"
"Well--." He hadn't the heart to say: "Because you're too old."
"Nicky's brains will be more use to the country than my old carcass."
Nicky thought: "You're the very last of us that can be spared." But he couldn't say it. The thing was so obvious. All he said was: "It's out of the question, your going."
"Old Nicky's out of the question, if you like," said John. "He's going to be married. He ought to be thinking of his wife and children."