“Do you mean to say we shall see the sun rise?” she exclaimed.

He nodded.

“Well!” cried she, absurdly gleeful, “I never heard of such a thing!”

She watched the sunrise like a child who sees for the first time the inside of a watch.  And when the sun had risen she glanced anxiously round the disordered room.

“For heaven’s sake,” she muttered, “don’t let’s forget these tooth-brushes!”

“You are so ridiculous,” said he, “that I must kiss you.”

The truth is that they were no better than two children out on an adventure.

It was the same when down in the hotel-yard they got into the small and decrepit victoria which was destined to take them and their luggage to Brighton.  It was the same, but more so.  They were both so pleased with themselves that their joy was bubbling continually out in manifestations that could only be described as infantile.  The mere drive through the village, with the pony whisking his tail round corners, and the driver steadying the perilous hat-box with his left hand, was so funny that somehow they could not help laughing.

Then they had left the village and were climbing the exposed highroad, with the wavy blue-green downs on the right, and the immense glittering flat floor of the Channel on the left.  And the mere sensation of being alive almost overwhelmed them.

And further on they passed a house that stood by itself away from the road towards the cliffs.  It had a sloping garden and a small greenhouse.  The gate leading to the road was ajar, but the blinds of all the windows were drawn, and there was no sign of life anywhere.

“That’s the house,” said Edward Coe, briefly.

“I might have known it,” Olive Two replied.  “Olive One is certainly the worst getter-up that I ever had anything to do with, and I believe Pierre Emile isn’t much better.”

“Well,” said Edward, “it’s no absolute proof of sluggardliness not to be up and about at six forty-five of a morning, you know.”

“I was forgetting how early it was!” said Olive Two, and yawned.  The yawn escaped her before she was aware of it.  She pulled herself together and kissed her hands mockingly, quizzically, to the house.  “Good-bye, house!  Good-bye, house!”

They were saved now.  They could not be caught now on their surreptitious honeymoon.  And their spirits went even higher.

“I thought you said Mimi would be waiting for us?” Olive Two remarked.

Edward Coe shrugged his shoulders.  “Probably overslept herself!  Or she may have got tired of waiting.  I told her six o’clock.”

On the whole Olive Two was relieved that Mimi was invisible.

“It wouldn’t really matter if she did split on us, would it?” said the bride.

“Not a bit,” the bridegroom agreed.  Now that they had safely left the house behind them, they were both very valiant.  It was as if they were both saying:  “Who cares?” The bridegroom’s mood was entirely different from his sombre apprehensiveness of the previous evening.  And the early sunshine on the dew-drops was magnificent.