Following the social event of the summer, the marriage of Rose Birkett (the county's scatterbrain heart-breaker), Fall brings WWII. The transition to war introduces unexpected elements into the Barsetshire milieu. Despite the newly sombre atmosphere, evacuee children (see Nurse's 'lust for power over babies'), nouveau riche 11migr11s (Mr Gissings' suspiciously shaped head), and the Mixo-Lydians (and their embroideries) afford opportunities for snatching humour from the jaws of bleakness. The Bissells, lower-middle-class heads of a billeted non-U school, share, with the gentry, a mutual bewilderment of values. Mrs Morland muses on Mrs Bissell's business-like acceptance of 'the sinister implications of Adelina Cottage' shared by Miss Hampton and Miss Bent. The Keith family takes centre stage as Lydia cares for the estate and her ailing mother while her friends pursue nursing and other war work. The young men pursue the young ladies and wartime accelerates the usual romantic coupling for a total of five, a record even for Thirkell.