Her voice sounded as if she was speaking from afar, and I knew that I must call up all my reserves of willpower if I was to remain awake.

“But Berry’s with you, isn’t he?”

“Yes.  Your sister came to lunch yesterday and happened to mention that he wanted to go to Pistol to-day, so I offered him a lift.  He’s much nicer than any chauffeur.”

“But whatever did he want to come to Pistol for?”

“Ah.”  From a great distance I watched Miss Childe’s brown eyes take on a look of mischief that seemed at home in its bright setting.  “He wouldn’t tell you and he didn’t tell Captain Mansel the truth, so I shan’t give him away.”  She looked at a tiny wrist-watch.  “And now I must be going.  We want to start back at half-past three, and I’ve twenty-five miles to do before then.”

“May I come with you?”

“Certainly.  But——­”

I stepped to where Jill was scribbling a note.

“We needn’t start before half-past three,” I said.  “Will you wait for me?”

She nodded abstractedly.

Jonah was dozing over a cigarette.  Berry had disappeared.

Three minutes later I was sitting in a comfortable coupe, which Miss Childe was driving at an unlawful speed in the direction of Colt.

“You drive a lot, don’t you?” flashed my companion.

“A good deal.”

“Then I expect you hate being driven by a stranger?”

“Not at all.  Sometimes, of course——­” I waited for us to emerge from between two motor-lorries and a traction-engine.  As we were doing over forty-five, the pause was but momentary.  “I mean——­”

“That you’re being frightened to death?”

“Not to death.  I’ve still got some feeling in my right arm.”  We dropped down one of the steepest hills I have ever seen, with two bends in it, at an increased speed.  “You keep your guardian angel pretty busy, don’t you?”

A suspicion of a smile played for a second about my lady’s lips.

“The only thing I’m really frightened of is a hansom cab,” she affirmed.

“Try and imagine that there are half a dozen round the next corner, will you?”

The smile deepened.

“Is your heart all right?” she demanded.

“It was when we started.”

“But I know this road backwards.”

“You needn’t tell me that,” said I.  “We should have been killed long ago if you didn’t.  Seriously, I don’t want to abuse your hospitality, but we’re going to have kidneys for breakfast to-morrow, and I should be sorry to miss them.”

“Are you fond of kidneys?”

“Passionately.  I used to go out and gather them as a child.  In the morning and the meadows.  Or were we talking of haddock?”

Miss Childe hesitated before replying.

“I used to, too.  But I was always afraid of their being toadstools.  They’re poisonous, aren’t they?”

“Deadly.  By the way, there are six hansoms full of toadstools at the cross-roads which I observe we are approaching.”