cried her father harshly. ‘What are you talking about.’

‘Yes,’ said Ursula. ‘Why not?’ Those two words, from her, always drove him mad. ‘Everything is all right — we shall go to the registrar’s office-’

There was a second’s hush in the room, after Ursula’s blithe vagueness.

‘REALLY, Ursula!’ said Gudrun.

‘Might we ask why there has been all this secrecy?’ demanded the mother, rather superbly.

‘But there hasn’t,’ said Ursula. ‘You knew.’

‘Who knew?’ now cried the father. ‘Who knew? What do you mean by your “you knew”?’

He