u up by my side before you know
what's happened. Kate must be close behind, and I'll try to swing her up
to the next seat."

"Why shouldn't _we_ have the back places, since somebody must?" Angela
questioned meekly.

"Because I want you to have the best there is, and I'm going to get it for
you, that's the only reason," Nick explained, leaving no room for further
argument. "It's the least I owe you, after failing to keep my other
promises."

She said no more; and round her the fight for places went on, desperate,
yet extraordinarily good-natured. People tried with all their might to
grab what they coveted, but if somebody else snatched it from under their
noses, why, blame Kismet! The rule of the game was to make no moan.

Always, as a new relay surged forward, Nick by some insidious manoeuvre
edged Angela and Kate nearer to the front. At last he got them wedged
behind the foremost row of travellers who were waiting to spring upon and
overwhelm an approaching stage. Those who had won the way to the front and
achieved safety, unless defeated by an unexpected rear attack, wore an
appearance of deceitful calm. Two extremely big young men, who had the air
of footballers in training, did what they could to form a hollow square
round a couple of fragile but determined girls. The party, while in
reality bent upon securing the two best seats at any cost to life or limb,
pretended to be looking at an illustrated newspaper. This feint was
intended to put others off their guard; and the four concealed their
emotions by discussing the pictures on the uppermost page.

A name spoken by one of the girls was an electric shock for Angela. In an
instant the veranda, the crowd on it, and the stage whose turn would come
next, vanished from before her eyes like a dissolving view.

"Prince di Sereno! What a romantic name. And say, _isn't_ he handsome? I
wonder if he's as good-looking as that, really?"

"She's handsome, too," the other girl added. "I do hope they won't be
killed."

"Come along, kids--look sharp!" said the two young men. And before others
who hoped to annex the box seat could breathe after an interlude of
footballing, the conquering four secured what they wanted. Those less
fortunate were tumbling up as best they could; and Angela had scarcely
time to realize that she had not dreamed the incident, when the stageload
had bounced away.

She was left dazed, and blushing deeply, so deeply that Nick, quick to
notice light