“It’s her grandmother who is ill—­not she.  But, yes!  Please try to cheer her up a bit, Harry.  She’s terribly upset.”

“I’m sure she is,” muttered he, dropping back with more haste than gallantry.  Mr. Dauntless sprang forward with equal alacrity, and wrong was right a moment later.

“Joe dear,” whispered Eleanor, “I’ve been nearly crazy.  What happened?” He was vainly trying to clasp her hand.

“Nell, he’s on to us.  I wish I knew just why Miss Courtenay is here.  Lord, I’ll never forget that ride.”

“It was just like you to take advantage of his engine.”

“His engine!” exploded Joe, wrathfully.  Securely separated from the others, the elopers analysed the situation as best they could.  Two separate enterprises struggled earnestly for an outcome.  On the surface, the truth seemed plain enough:  it was quite clear to both parties that the extraordinary chain of coincidence was not entirely due to Providence.  There was something of design behind it all.  The staggering part was the calamitous way in which chance had handled their dear and private affairs.

“He doesn’t know that you were in my automobile,” concluded Dauntless, almost at the same time that a like opinion was being expressed by Windomshire.  “Are you willing to go on with it, Nell?  Are you scared out of it?”

“No, indeed,” she exclaimed, perplexity leaving her brow.  “At first I feared he might have telegraphed to mother, but now I am sure he hasn’t.  He was not following me at all.  He is in love with Anne, and he was surreptitiously off for a part of the distance with her.  He really doesn’t want to marry me, you know.”

“Well, he isn’t going to, you see.  By all that is holy, nothing shall stop us now, dear.  We’ll go on to Omegon and carry out everything just as we planned.  If he’s running off after another girl, it’s time you put an end to him.  Don’t give him a thought.”

“Don’t you think we’d better talk it over with Mr. Derby?  He discreetly disappeared when he saw it was you.”

“Right!  Let’s hunt him out.  By Jove, we can have him marry us right here,—­great!”

“No,” she cried firmly, “it must be in a church.”  He could not move her from that stand.

“Oh, if we could only get across that confounded river!” scolded Joe, as they went off in search of Derby.

Windomshire was slowly reconciling himself to the fact that Eleanor loved Dauntless, but he could not get it out of his head that she still expected to marry as her mother had planned.

“See here, Anne, it’s all very well to say that she loves Dauntless.  Of course she does.  But that isn’t going to prevent her from marrying me.  I don’t believe she was running away with him, don’t you know.  He was simply following her.  That’s the way these Americans do, you know.  Now, the question is, won’t she think it odd that you and I should happen to be doing almost the same thing?”