s fastened, he had
flatly declined to stay with either of the cars. The expedient of
closing one of these altogether and leaving Nobby within had proved
quite as unsatisfactory and more humiliating. Had we been able to
eradicate from the dog's mind the conviction that he was being
wrongfully imprisoned, the result might have been different. As it
was, after barking furiously for five minutes, he had recourse to
reprisal and, hardly waiting to remove the paper in which it was
wrapped, devoured half a kilogramme of ripe Brie with a revengeful
voracity to which the condition of the interior of the car bore hideous
witness. Finally, when the urchin who was in our confidence, and had
engaged for the sum of five francs to endeavour to enter the car,
opened its door, the captive leaped out joyously and, after capering
with delight at his delivery, wiped his mouth enthusiastically upon a
tire and started on a reconnaissance of the neighbourhood in the hope
of encountering his gaolers. As for the car, our employee might have
driven it into the blue....

In the end, it was decided that a lock attached to the steering-column
would offer the best security. Accordingly, a device was sent for,
fitted to each of the cars, and proved. So far as we could see, there
was no fault in it. Once the key was withdrawn, the car concerned was
useless. It could be driven, certainly, but it could not be steered.
Indeed, short of getting it upon a trolley or taking 'the steering'
down, its asportation could not be compassed.

New brooms sweep clean.

Delighted with the realisation that theft could now be erased from the
list of terrors of motoring, the girls insisted upon the observance of
the new rite upon every possible occasion. As drivers of long
standing, Jonah and I found this eagerness hard to indulge. Use holds,
and, try as we would, it was absurdly difficult to remember to do as we
had never done before, whenever we evacuated a car. Often enough, as
now, it was a work of supererogation.

Berry turned to me.

"I observe," he said, "that for once you have not advanced your
opinion. Is this because you realise that it's valueless? Or won't
your mouth work?"

"Jonah was right," said I. "Insurance has its advantages, but you
don't register every letter you post. The truth is, what little sense
of proportion you have is failing. Of course you're not as young as
you were, and then, again, you eat too much."

"In other w