. It was travelling so slowly that he might overtake it before
his petrol gave out. It was true he was going in the wrong direction,
and if he failed he would be still farther from his goal, but when you
are twenty-five kilometers from where you want to be, a few hundred
yards more or less is not worth worrying about.

He wheeled his machine round and followed the lorry at full speed. But
he had not more than started when he noticed his quarry turning to the
right. Slowly it disappeared into the forest.

"Funny I didn't see that road," thought Merriman as he bumped along.

He slackened speed when he reached the place where the lorry had
vanished, and then he saw a narrow lane just wide enough to allow the
big vehicle to pass, which curved away between the tree stems. The
surface was badly cut up with wheel tracks, so much so that Merriman
decided he could not ride it. He therefore dismounted, hid his bicycle
among the trees, and pushed on down the lane on foot. He was convinced
from his knowledge of the country that the latter must be a cul-de-sac,
at the end of which he would find the lorry. This he could hear not far
away, chugging slowly on in front of him.

The lane twisted incessantly, apparently to avoid the larger trees. The
surface was the virgin soil of the forest only, but the ruts had been
filled roughly with broken stones.

Merriman strode on, and suddenly, as he rounded one of the bends, he got
the surprise of his life.

Coming to meet him along the lane was a girl. This in itself was
perhaps not remarkable, but this girl seemed so out of place amid such
surroundings, or even in such a district, that Merriman was quite taken
aback.

She was of medium height, slender and graceful as a lily, and looked
about three-and-twenty. She was a study in brown. On her head was a
brown tam, a rich, warm brown, like the brown of autumn bracken on the
moor. She wore a brown jumper, brown skirt, brown stockings and little
brown brogued shoes. As she came closer, Merriman saw that her eyes,
friendly, honest eyes, were a shade of golden brown, and that a hint
of gold also gleamed in the brown of her hair. She was pretty, not
classically beautiful, but very charming and attractive-looking. She
walked with the free, easy movement of one accustomed to an out-of-door
life.

As they drew abreast Merriman pulled off his cap.

"Pardon, mademoiselle," he said in his somewhat halting French, "but can
you tell me if I could