“James! Oh, there you are! You must know how busy I am!”

Canterton lit his pipe.

“You are the busiest woman I know.”

“It’s a quarter to three, and I have to open the fête at three. And the men are not up at the house. I told Lavender——”

“Yes, no doubt. But we happen to be very busy here.”

His wife elevated her eyebrows.

“James, do you mean to say——”

“The men are not going.”

“But I told Lavender——”

He looked at her with an imperturbable good humour that knew perfectly well how to hold its own.