time to get out of his car and ring the bell
here was a young person, springing from goodness knows where, mistaking
him for a motor-man, and ordering him about. For a moment he was
speechless. Then, as the humor of the situation began to appeal to him,
so did the good looks of the girl.

"Really," he began. "You see I----"

"Don't talk, get under way!" commanded Jeannette. "Quick! Her ladyship
has altered her mind about going out. You've got to take me to Sapworth
Hall. It's thirty miles. I want to be there by lunch-time. Do you know
the way?"

"I--I think so," stammered Chilminster.

Her bewildering eagerness to be off was infectious. The noble owner of
the car felt it. But apart from that, he was quite ready for an
adventure in such pleasant company. He forgot all about the object of
his visit. Without another word he let in the clutch and started.

Jeannette sank back with a sigh of relief. She credited herself with
having secured Persis's car very neatly. The man might, perhaps, get
into trouble, but she could make that up to him by a generous tip. Her
one idea was to contradict and confute the disgraceful announcement at
its fountain-head. It was providential that the unknown Lord
Chilminster's place was so near; but had it been ten times as far off,
Jeannette, boiling with justifiable indignation, and with her mind made
up to exact reparation, would have gone there.

"It's awful! It's unheard of! I--I won't have it! Who can have done it?"
she kept repeating through white teeth set viciously. "I'll have it
contradicted in large print by this time to-morrow, or the American
Ambassador shall----"

She was not quite sure what ambassadors did under similar circumstances,
and she left the mental threat unfinished. Anyhow, it was a disgrace to
herself, and her sex, if not a slight on her country, and it redoubled
her determination to "get even" with the perpetrator of it. She leaned
forward to make herself heard.

"Set a killing pace," she called. "I'll make it up to you."

Chilminster nodded, hid a smile, and let the car out to the top of its
speed. It ate up mile after mile; and as it came to Jeannette that each
one brought her nearer and nearer to the hateful person whose name had
been so scandalously bracketed with her own, she experienced a feeling
of nervousness. The boldness of her escapade began to alarm her. What
should she say? How express in words her view of an intolerable
situation which no self