even more glorious theme -- the loss of His Majesty's
good ship _Amphion._ He described the splendid discipline
of the men, the magnificent courage of the captain,
who, when recovering from a shock which had
stretched him insensible, had rushed to stop the engines.
He told with what composure the men had
fallen in, and how everything had been done, without
hurry or confusion, in the good old British sea way;
and how, thanks to that, twenty minutes after the _Amphion_
had struck a mine, men, officers, and captain
had left the ship.

And after he had finished his address -- he kept it
quite short, for Dr. Haworth was one of those rare
and wise men who never preach a long sermon -- the
whole congregation rose to their feet and sang "God
Save the King."

This golden feeling of security, of happy belief that
all was, and must be, well, lasted till the following afternoon.
And the first of the dwellers in Witanbury
Close to have that comfortable feeling shattered --
shattered for ever -- was Mrs. Otway.

She was about to pay a late call on Mrs. Robey, who,
after all, had not taken her children to the seaside.
Rather to the amusement of his neighbours, Mr. Robey,
who was moving heaven and earth to get some
kind of War Office job, had bluntly declared that,
however much people might believe in "business as
usual," he was not going to practice "pleasure as
usual" while his country was at war.

Mrs. Otway stepped out of her gate, and before
turning to the right she looked to the left, as people
will. The Dean was at the corner, apparently on his

[[174]]

p173 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p174w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p175

v?