said Birkin, ‘and then he hadn’t got a button-hook.’

‘Oh God!’ cried Marshall. ‘The immortality of the soul on your wedding day! Hadn’t you got anything better to occupy your mind?’

‘What’s wrong with it?’ asked the bridegroom, a clean-shaven naval man, flushing sensitively.

‘Sounds as if you were going to be executed instead of married. THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL!’ repeated the brother-in-law, with most killing emphasis.

But he fell quite flat.

‘And what did you decide?’ asked Gerald, at once pricking up his ears at the thought of a metaphysical discussion.

‘You don’t