"But _any_ one might meet you," Edith Ethel said in a note of agony. "It's very inconsiderate. Don't you _think_ you've been very inconsiderate? You might meet any of the people who come to our Fridays!" "I frequently do," Valentine said. "But they don't seem to mind. Perhaps they think I'm a Waac officer. That would be quite respectable. . . ." Mrs. Duchemin drifted away, her arms full of flowers and real agony upon her face. Now, beside the tea-table she said, very softly: "My dear, we've decided not to have our usual Friday afternoon next week." Valentine wondered whether this was merely a lie to get rid of her. But Edith Ethel went on: "We've decided to have a little evening festivity. After a great deal of thought we've come to the conclusion that we ought, now, to make our union public." She paused to await comment, but Valentine making none she went on: "It coincides very happily--I can't help feeling it coincides very happily!--with another event. Not that we set much store by these things. . . . But it has been whispered to Vincent that next Friday. . . . Perhaps, my dear Valentine, you, too, will have heard . . ." Valentine said: "No, I haven't. I suppose he's got the O.B.E. I'm very glad." "The Sovereign," Mrs. Duchemin said, "is seeing fit to confer the honour of knighthood on him." "Well!" Valentine said. "He's had a quick career. I've no doubt he deserves it. He's worked very hard. I do sincerely congratulate you. It'll be a great help to you." "It's," Mrs. Duchemin said, "not for mere plodding. That's what makes it so gratifying. It's for a special piece of brilliance, that has marked him out. It's, of course, a secret. But . . ." "Oh, I know!" Valentine said. "He's worked out some calculations to prove that losses in the devastated districts, if you ignore machinery, coal output, orchard trees, harvests, industrial products and so on, don't amount to more than a year's household dilapidations for the . . ." Mrs. Duchemin said with real horror: "But how did you know? How on _earth_ did you know? . . ." She paused. "It's such a _dead_ secret. . . . That fellow must have told you. . . . But how on earth could _he_ know?" "I haven't seen Mr. Tietjens to speak to since the last time he was here," Valentine said. She saw, from Edith Ethel's bewilderment, the whole situation. The miserable Macmaster hadn't even confided to his wife that the practically stolen figures weren't his own. He desired to have a little prestige in the family circle; for once a little prestige! Well! Why shouldn't he have it? Tietjens, she knew, would wish him to have all he could get. She said therefore: "Oh, it's probably in the air. . . . It's known the Government want to break their claims to the higher command. And anyone who could help them to that would get a knighthood. . . ." Mrs. Duchemin was more calm.