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Mr. Carroll had followed his son’s words attentively. “Well, of course,” he said, “that’s different. I’m not a military man and I don’t pretend to have become an expert strategist, like most of my friends at the club. They’ll amuse you, Stacey. All the same, it’s an outrage that the Germans should get off scot-free.”

And after this the subject of the war was dropped for a while.

Julie related personal gossip agreeably, and Jimmy Prout told an amusing story about an eccentric client of his, and Stacey listened with interest to both of them, but he observed that his father did not listen. Mr. Carroll did pay his son-in-law a perfunctory semblance of attention, but he made no pretence of even hearing what his daughter said. And he cut short her account of a country club feud with a sudden irrelevant remark accompanied by an impatient frown.

“We passed Colin Jeffries on the way home, Jimmy,” he said, “and stopped to speak with him. He said a few words to Stacey about the rottenness of conditions over here to-day, about what we’ve all got to face.”