"Oh, Joan, do stop him," exclaimed Diana appealingly. "I'm going to
church this morning, and if he lectures me like this I shall have no
appetite left for spiritual things."
"I didn't know you ever had--much," replied Joan, laughing.
"Well, anyway, I've a thoroughly healthy appetite for my breakfast,"
said Diana, as they went into the dining-room. "I'm feeling
particularly cheerful just this moment. I have a presentiment that
something very delightful is going to happen to me to-day--though, to
be sure, Sunday isn't usually a day when exciting things occur."
"Dreams generally go by contraries," observed Joan sagely. "And I
rather think the same applies to presentiments. I know that whenever I
have felt a comfortable assurance that everything was going smoothly,
it has generally been followed by one of the servants giving notice, or
the bursting of the kitchen boiler, or something equally disagreeable."
Diana gurgled unfeelingly.
"Oh, those are merely the commonplaces of existence," she replied. "I
was meaning"--waving her hand expansively--"big things."
"And when you've got your own house, my dear," retorted Joan, "you'll
find those commonplaces of existence assume alarmingly big proportions."
Soon after Stair had finished his after-breakfast pipe, the chiming of
the bells announced that it was time to prepare for church. The
Rectory pew was situated close to the pulpit, at right angles to the
body of the church, and Diana and Joan took their places one at either
end of it.
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