poons, forks, and
knives all ready to hand. In their enthusiasm the boys would have liked
to sleep in the car had that been possible, and Lenox often regretted
wistfully that they had not brought tents with them to pitch for the
night.

"No, thanks," said Mr. Hewlitt. "You youngsters may enjoy that sort of
thing; but I consider this British climate is too damp for camping out,
and I much prefer a comfortable bed at a decent hotel."

"Besides which, the hotels are so delightfully old-world and quaint, I
shouldn't like to miss them," added Mrs. Hewlitt.

"Rather _too_ old-world sometimes," shivered her daughter.

Diana had had an unpleasant experience the night before. Generally she
and Loveday slept together, but on this occasion they had been given
separate rooms. Diana, who had a tiresome trick of waking, furiously
hungry, in the small hours of the morning, put a couple of biscuits
under her pillow before she got into bed, so as to be prepared for any
emergencies of appetite. She woke suddenly in the night, with the
horrible sensation that a hand was groping under her pillow. She
switched on the electric light by her bedside, but nothing was to be
seen. Thinking she must have been dreaming, she switched off the light
and lay down again. Hardly was she settled, and sinking off to sleep,
when once more came a most unmistakable movement under her pillow.
Thoroughly scared, she switched on the light, only to find nothing. When
this happened a third time she no longer dared remain in the dark, so
lighted a candle which fortunately stood on the mantelpiece, and placed
it on a table not far from her bed. She could not see everything in the
room, and lay watching with wide-open eyes. For a few minutes all was
absolutely still; then came a slight noise, and along the rail at the
foot of the bed ran something with whiskers, either a young rat or the
very biggest mouse she had ever seen.

"Sh-sh-sh-oo-oo!" cried Diana, sitting erect in bed with round
frightened eyes. The intruder, equally terrified, took the hint to quit,
and scuttled noisily away. The idea that it might return to seek her
biscuits was too much for Diana.

"Even if I eat them it'll come back to see if they're there," she
thought. "I'd have a fit if I felt it under my pillow again. I can't
sleep another wink in here, that's certain. I'd as soon have spooks as
rats or mice. I'm going to Loveday."

So, though the time was about 1 a.m., she jumped up, seized