In consequence, he had the entree at times when other reporters were rigorously barred.

It was nearly eleven o’clock before Godfrey arrived that evening, but I was neither surprised nor impatient.  I knew how many and unexpected were the demands upon his time; and I always found a lively interest in watching the comings and goings at the station across the way—­where, alas, the entrances far exceeded the exits!  But finally, a car swung in from the Avenue at a speed that drew my eyes, and I saw that Godfrey was driving it.

“Jump in,” he said, pushing out his clutch and pausing at the curb; and as I grabbed my suit-case and sprang to the seat beside him, he let the clutch in again and we were off.  “No time to lose,” he added, as he changed into high, and turned up Seventh Avenue.

At the park, he turned westward to the Circle, and then northward again out Amsterdam Avenue.  There was little traffic, and we were soon skimming along at a speed which made me watch the cross-streets fearfully.  In a few minutes we were across the Harlem and running northward along the uninteresting streets beyond.  At this moment, it occurred to me that Godfrey was behaving singularly as though he were hastening to keep an appointment; but I judged it best not to distract his attention from the street before us, and restrained the question which rose to my lips.

At last, the built-up portion of the town was left behind; we passed little houses in little yards, then meadows and gardens and strips of woodland, with a house only here and there.  We were no longer on a paved street, but on a macadam road—­a road apparently little used, for our lamps, sending long streamers of light ahead of us, disclosed far empty stretches, without vehicle of any kind.  There was no moon, and the stars were half-obscured by a haze of cloud, while along the horizon to the west, I caught the occasional glow of distant lightning.

And then the sky was suddenly blotted out, and I saw that we were running along an avenue of lofty trees.  The road at the left was bordered by a high stone wall, evidently the boundary of an important estate.  We were soon past this, and I felt the speed of the car slacken.

“Hold tight!” said Godfrey, turned sharply through an open gateway, and brought the car to a stop.  Then, snatching out his watch, he leaned forward and held it in the glare of the side-lamp.  “Five minutes to twelve,” he said.  “We can just make it.  Come on, Lester.”

He sprang from the car, and I followed, realising that this was no time for questions.

“This way,” he said, and held out a hand to me, or I should have lost him in the darkness.  We were in a grove of lofty trees, and at the foot of one of these, Godfrey paused.  “Up with, you,” he added; “and don’t lose any time,” and he placed my hand upon the rung of a ladder.

Too amazed to open my lips, I obeyed.  The ladder was a long one, and, as I went up and up, I could feel Godfrey mounting after me.  I am not expert at climbing ladders, even by daylight, and my progress was not rapid enough to suit my companion, for he kept urging me on.  But at last, with a breath of relief, I felt that I had reached the top.