My Friend the Chauffeur

ck towns stood up impressively, round and high on their eminences, like brown, stemless mushrooms. Each little group of ancient dwellings resembled to my mind a determined band of men

-stricken place, through which, in happier circumstances, we should have passed without a glance, but-there,

almost cheerful. He promised to have a new lever ready in half an hour, and so confident was he that he urged us to

rry and I offered such help as men can give. He went in search of water to fill the shining kettle; I handed r

hair and complexion offered by an incipient Don Juan of five years, she insisted that all the spare pastry should be distributed among the juveniles. The division led to blows, and tears which had to be quenched with coppers; while into the mêlée broke a desolate cry from Joseph, announcing that his lever was a failure. The Prince strode off to the blacksmith's shop, forgetful that he held a teacup in one hand and an éclair in the other.

beyond Airole the last, most enterprising boy deserted us, and we thought ourselves alone in a twilight world. The white face of the moon peered through a cleft in the mountain, and our own shadows crawled after us, large and dark on the grey ribbon of the road. But there w

k thing that comes and

forlorn little dog that was too timid to eat from my ha

" Beechy cried to the tall, dark figur

the Prince. "A mangy little mongrel. I do

ave kicked him!" she exclaimed, the gentleness burnt out of her pretty voice by a sw

nishment without a word of objection from her relatives. "I will not have that poor, timid littl

y called, "Here, doggie, doggie," in a voice to beguile a rhinoceros, Dalmar-Kalm pleaded that what he had done had been but for the animal's good. He had not injured the dog, he had

on't come back to be comforted, so I suppose after all we shall have to go

Countess to "go home, little dog," he came on the faster. Many adventures he had, such as a fall over a heap of stones and entanglement in a thorn-bush. But nothing discouraged the miniature motor maniac in the pursuit o

p against the sky like a warning finger, towered the ancient stronghold of Piena, once guardian fortress of the valley; where the way curved, and crossed a high bridge spanning the torrent, we passed a tablet of gleaming bronze set against the rock wall, in commemoration of Ma

y insisting that Joseph should light his too. This was sheer vanity on the Prince's part. He could not

lights of a town; and two douaniers appeared in the road, holding up their hands for us to stop. Dow

you please," dema

h had been given us at th

ers. Where are those for F

said the Prince, bef

e man. "France for nine kilometres, until Fo

the Pont St. Louis to leave France. This car is French, and we ought not to pay anything to enter;

if you have the receipt it may b

ed Dalmar-Kalm angrily. "I

t," said Terry. "I thought i

circumstances you cannot enter French territory without a receipt for the ten centimes. As a m

saw by Terry's face that he was far from considering the incident closed;

hether there is not some means

His Highness's temper was sharpened by a keen edge of hunger. That he-he should be stopped by a fussy official figure-head almost within smell of food, broke down the barrier of his self-restraint-n

ymore's sometimes, and call him Kalmar-Dalm, there'd be so

lady, but there was small danger that His Highn

swashbuckling than his own; but he had been as polite as his countrymen proverbially are, if not goaded out of their suavity. "Look here, Prince," said Terry, hanging onto his temper by a thread

t was for the best, and yielded. As they moved away, a shadowy f

ratively insignificant French douanier ought to have earned him a billet as first secretary to a Legation. He pictured the despair of the ladies if the power of France kept them prisoners at the frontier; he referred warmly to that country's reputation for chivalry; he offered to pay the usual deposit on a car entering Fr

o "consistently with honour." He had an inspiration, and suggested that he would strain his duty by sending a messenger with us to Fontan, there to explain that we were merely en passage

ot an engaging face, but it was animated by the spirit of a Brillat Savarin, by which we were provided with a wonderful dinner in numerou

were in the hotel. "The hills you have passed are as nothing to the hills yet to come. You will d

he two girls would have been for pushing on, and the Countess for stopping. But that plump lady had alre

e most luxurious thing on wheels. I always wanted to get there, wherever 'there' was; but now I want to go on and on-I wouldn't care if it was to the end of the world, and I can't think wh

mpagne had put into a sentimental mood), and I suddenly fou

h icy points of stars. An adventure seemed to lie before us. We turned wistfully to each other for the warmth of human companionship, and had not the Prince been trying to flirt with little Beec

?ades, grey by day, glittering white and polished under the magic of the moon. The wonderful crescent town of Saorge, hanging on the mountain-side, would alone have been worth coming this way to see if there had been nothing e

back, with the Prince's chariot trailing after us. Nevertheless, our car did not falter, though the motor panted. Scarcely ever were we able to pass

roubled dreams of strangely contorted mountains. Then suddenly it waked, for the moon was sinking, and the charm had lost its potence. The dream-shapes vanished, and we were in a wide, da

held up?" she whispered. "I'd

" said Terry. "We've got to San Dalmaz

d Beechy. "There's a c

had often heard of this hostelry at the little mountain retreat of San Dalmazzo, loved and sought by Italians in the summer heat. The arched gateway in the wall w

motor. Its "thrum, thrum" stilled, the silence of the

y had been long, and the chill of the keen mountain air was in our blood. But nothing happened, and after a

the darkness behind the door which was half of glass. At last a greenish light gleamed dim

xpect to have the door of an hotel opened by a monk. But ghosts have no traffic with keys and bolts; and it was the

n his best Italian that we desi

to disappoint you, but it ceased to be such only to-day. The house is now once more

ake us in?" asked th

aid Terry, "but I'l

if he stooped to wheedle. Italian is a language which lends itself to wheedling, too; and though the good monk demurred at firs

is going to be signed then. Until that's done the house isn't actually a monastery, so he can strain a point and take us in, rathe

broke in Beechy, "and Maida, an

l make the poor man, who is all alone, a good deal of bother. Still, I shal

ere shown into small, bare rooms, furnished only with necessaries, but spotlessly clean. Then beds had to be made and water brought. Every one worked except the Prince, and every one, with the same exception, forgot to be tired and ceased to b

d the table with the dishes from the tea-basket, and a few more found in neighbouring cupboards. Beechy boiled the eggs

nnected with our past-that past which had been the present this morning. It was after one o'clock when it occurred to us that it was be

ittle black

RT

BEECHY