“Well,” said the doctor, preparing to depart, “you have all my congratulations.” He flicked Mrs. Samuel Harfield’s letter with his thumb. “Don’t worry about that woman and her odious letter.”

“It really isn’t an odious letter,” said Miss Grey tolerantly. “Under the circumstances, I think it’s really quite a natural thing to do.”

“I have the gravest suspicions of you sometimes,” said the doctor.

“Why?”

“The things that you find perfectly natural.”

Katherine Grey laughed.

Doctor Harrison retailed the great news to his wife at lunchtime. She was very excited about it.