"Wait. The next second the hounds picked up the scent again, and,
before I knew where I was, the mare had jerked the bridle out of my
hand and was half-way across the first field."

"And didn't anyone catch her?"

"The man who caught her is a brute. He would have wanted to tighten my
girths for me, and that's why I dropped behind. I felt it would be
him, so I slid out of sight behind a hedge, and when I saw it was him
coming back with her, I didn't want his smile, so I just ran into the
woods and started to walk home."

"Did he see you?"

"No. He may be there still, for all I know."

"He must have been having a roaring time leading the mare about all
day."

"I hope it'll teach him not to pester a girl again."

I sighed. "Some of us are brutes, aren't we?"

"Yes."

A pause. Then:

"But some men have been very nice to me."

"The devil they have!" said I.

Here, as certain of our own writers say and have said, a gurgle of
delight escaped her. I leaned forward and grabbed at something, caught
and handed it to her. She stared at my empty palm.

"Your gurgle, I think."

"Oh," she said, laughing, "you are mad. But I like you. Now, why is
that?"

"Personal charm," said I. "The palmist who sits where the draughts are
in the Brown Park Hotel, West Central, said I had a magnetism of my
own."

"There you are. I never believed in palmistry."

"She also told me to beware of lifts, and a fellow trod on one of my
spats in the one at Dover Street the very next morning. Hullo!"

Pomfret slowed gradually down and stopped. I turned to the girl.

"This is what we pay the boy sixteen shillings a week for."

"What's the matter?"

"Petrol's run out. I'm awfully sorry. The silly serf must have
forgotten to fill up before I started."

"My dear Hare, what shall we do?"

I made a rapid calculation.

"We can't be more than a quarter of a mile from Fell. In fact, I'm
almost sure it's at the foot of the next hill. Yes, I know it is. And
if we can get Pomfret to the crest of this rise, it's all down-hill
from there to the village. Shall we try, Alice?"

"Rather!"

She got out, and I followed. Fortunately the slope was a gentle one,
and, without much of the harder labour, we managed to top the rise.
Then we got in again, and began to descend the hill. When the brakes
failed, one after another, I was, if possible, more pained than
surprised. I rebuked Pomfret and turned to my companion: