midday
`` Nay , I 've nothing to do with it , '' Mrs Peake replied , as quickly as at dinner she might have set down a very hot plate . In some women profound affection exists side by side with a nervous dread lest that affection should seem to possess the least influence over its object . Peake dismissed from his mind as grotesque the suggestion that he should contribute a hundred pounds to the organ fund ; it revolted his sense of the fitness of things ; the next morning he had entirely forgotten it . But two days afterwards , when he was finishing his midday dinner with a piece of Cheshire cheese , his wife said : `` James , have you thought anything more about that organ affair ? '' She gave a timid little laugh . He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment , holding a morsel of cheese on the end of his knife ; then he ate the cheese in silence . `` Nan , '' he said at length , rather deliberately , `` have they been trying to come round you ?