"I'm very sorry, Sergeant, but I can't pass you as fit for duty." Alfred grinned: "You do pull my pore arm about, sir, but don't pull my leg, please." The doctor laughed. "You may count on six weeks at home, perhaps more." The momentary pain of having small splinters of bone extracted was negligible compared with six weeks of married bliss. Fancy's happiness defies analysis. Her naïve ecstasies astounded Mrs. Yellam, to whom marriage had been rather a prosaic affair. She wondered occasionally if this had been her fault. Why had dull contentment set in so soon? As a young wife, she may have overbusied herself with domestic duties. Fancy practised wiles and guiles with Alfred. She planned quaint little surprises, played dexterously with an imagination which became as lively as her own. One evening, when Fancy was upstairs, Alfred took from his pocket some pieces of white paper, all that was left of three packets of food. Abroad on business, Alfred had lunched under a hedge by himself, far from home. Upon the paper were pencilings in Fancy's handwriting. Mrs. Yellam wiped her spectacles and put them on. She read three sentences:--"Meat sandwiches. Don't gobble 'em! Say grace and think of Fancy." Upon the next piece of paper this was scribbled:--"Bread and butter and cheese--and _kisses_." And then the third:--"Rich cake stolen from Mother by a loving thief. P. S. Another fat kiss has just started to grow. F. Y." Mrs. Yellam returned the papers. Alfred folded them carefully, and placed them in the inner pocket of his tunic. "They go back with me to France," he said quietly. Mrs. Yellam sighed. "You be a lucky man, Alferd." He nodded and went upstairs. Mrs. Yellam heard a tinkle of laughter. She sat on, thinking; a frown wrinkled her broad forehead. She had never played the game of love as Fancy played it. It occurred to her that she had missed something all her life without knowing what it was. It might be wise to consult Solomon, who was gazing at her interrogatively, with his head on one side. She did so. "Be they a pair o' fools, Solly?" Solomon never budged. This might be taken to mean an answer in the negative. "There be wisdom in folly, my dog, and folly in wisdom. You knows that?" Solomon wagged his tail. Mrs. Yellam continued: "I be learning things, Solly, old as I be. I wish I'd ha' learned 'em earlier. I might ha' been a happier 'ooman. I might ha' made my man happier. Why do such knowledge come to us too late?" Solomon gazed at his mistress intently. From his expression Mrs. Yellam divined that all her questions could be answered exhaustively by any dog able to wag his tongue instead of his tail. The war went on.