," he said unctuously, "and let this be a lesson to you, brother."

Speechless with indignation, our cousin regarded him.

At length--

"What d'you mean?" he demanded.

Berry raised his eyebrows.

"I hardly think," he said, "the penalty for--er--loitering would have
been so vindictive."

CHAPTER II

HOW THREE WAGERS WERE MADE, AND ADELE KILLED TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

We had slept, risen and breakfasted: we had visited Tours Cathedral:
finally, we had mustered in the lounge of the hotel. It was when we
had there been insulting one another for nearly an hour, that Jonah
looked at his watch.

"We have now," he said, "wasted exactly forty-nine minutes in kicking
against the pricks. Short of a European war, you can't alter the
geography of France, and the laws of Mathematics take a lot of
upsetting. It's no good wishing that Bordeaux was Biarritz, or that
Pau was half the distance it is from Angouleme. If you don't want to
go right through, you must stay at Bordeaux. It's the only possible
place. If you don't want to stay at Bordeaux, you must go right
through. I don't care which we do, but I do want to see something of
Poitiers, and, if we don't get a move on, we shan't have time."

All the way from Boulogne France had made an excellent host. So far
she had never failed to offer us a good night's lodging, with History
as a bedfellow, at the end of a respectable run. Indeed, from the
point of view of they that go down to the South in cars, her famous
capitals could hardly have been more conveniently disposed. This very
evening, by lodging us at Angouleme, she was to repeat such hospitality
for the last time. Upon the morrow we should be faced with a choice of
making a dash for the villa which was awaiting our arrival at Pau, or
breaking the journey asunder--but by no means in half--by sleeping at
Bordeaux.

"I must confess," said Daphne, "that, for some reason or other,
Bordeaux doesn't attract me. Incidentally, I'm getting rather tired of
unpacking and packing up."

"So far," said her husband, "as the bestowal and disinterment of my
effects are concerned, I can confirm that statement. Indeed, if we had
another week on the road, you'd both be exhausted. You left my sponge
and bedroom-slippers at Boulogne, my dressing-gown at Rouen, and my
pyjamas at Chartres. I wish you'd tell me what you've left here. I'm
simply dying to know."

"No," said Daphne. "You must wait till Angouleme. I w