saying anything.

A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.

* * * * *

It was three days later that we were bowling along the road to Biarritz.

The morning was full and good to look upon. Sun, sky, and air offered
the best they had. To match their gifts, a green and silver earth
strained at the leash of Winter with an eager heart. The valleys
smiled, high places lifted up their heads, the hasty Gave de Pau
swirled on its shining way, a laughing sash of snow-broth, and all the
countryside glowed with the cheerful aspect of a well-treated slave.

Wide, straight, and level, the well-built road thrust through the
beaming landscape with a directness that took Distance by the throat.
The surface improving as we left Pau behind, I drew on the seven-league
boots--surreptitiously. Very soon we were flying.... With a steady
purr of contentment, Pong, tuned to a hair, swallowed the flashing
miles so easily that pace was robbed of its sting.

A dot on the soft bullock-walk that edged the road grew with fantastic
swiftness into an ox-waggon, loomed for an instant life-size, and was
gone. A speck ahead leapt into the shape of a high-wheeled gig, jogged
for a moment to meet us, and vanished into space. A dolls'-house by
the wayside swelled into a villa ... a chateau ... a memory of tall
thin windows ranged in a white wall. The future swooped into the
present, only to be flicked into the past. The seven-league boots were
getting into their stride.

Then came a level-crossing with the barriers drawn....

For a minute the lady responsible for the obstructions seemed uncertain
whether to withdraw them or no. After a long look up the line,
however, she decided against us and shook her head with a benevolent
smile.

"_Le train arrive_," she explained.

With a sigh, I stopped the engine and lighted a cigarette....

"What exactly," said Daphne, "did Evelyn say?"

"That," said Berry, "as I have already endeavoured to point out, will
always remain a matter for conjecture. We addressed one another for
more than twenty minutes, but our possession of the line was disputed
effectively during the whole of that period."

"Well, what did you hear her say?"

"I heard her say 'Yes' twice, and 'Delighted,' and 'One o'clock.' I'm
almost certain that towards the end of our communion she said, 'Oh,
hell!' Having regard to the prevailing conditions, she may be
forgiven."

Daphne sig