The Princess Passes

s to th

ta of some great road ... and to wonder through what strange places, by what towns and castles, by what rive

rying on my new automobile get-up was more than a pin-pric

he goggles that made me look like a senile owl, and facing him angri

in them things. I never thought to see you, me lord, in hotomob

implied rebuke. I twisted my wrists free of the elastic wind-cuffs, and

e too, me lord," added Locker, awa

ve held out longer than most. Don't be afraid, though, that I am going to have a machine of my own: I haven't quite sunk to that; if everybody else I know

almost dropped the coat of

the speed of a g

ty obstinacy I had refused to be a "tooled down" to Brighton or elsewhere. Fancying myself considerably as a whip, and being an enthusiastic lover of horses, I had taken up an a

that part of me which was not frozen by the grocer (the part the psychologists call the "unconsci

ly swept aside the interpolation as unworthy of notice. When he suggested a drive in the new car, I called up all my tact to evade the invitation. If the active part of me had not been stunned on the night when Helen threw me over, I believe I should have kept bright the jewel of consistency. But the kindne

and a cherisher of conservative ideals, he could mention it to other valets without a blush. The mules however, towards which the motor was to lead, was a differe

ut one way

h the 'eavy luggage, and take rooms at

it must be possible for him to live without a valet. "No, Locker," I said firmly. "I am to be Mr. and M

s you will. I do 'ope you won't suffer from dust, with no one to keep you in p

at Locker must be prepared for a wire at any time. I had often derived a quaint pleasure from the consciousness that he despised my bookish habits and certain unconvention

said to me, "we could reel off the distance almost as quickly as the train; but in our blessed land, with its twenty miles an hour speed limit, its narrow winding roads, c

ly suit case which was the one article of luggage I was allowed to carry on the motor. A portmanteau was to follow me vaguely about the Continent, and I had visions of a pack to supersede the suit case, when my means of transp

and Molly had changed herself from a radiant girl into a cream-coloured mushroom, with a thick, straight, pale-brown stem, the Thing was at the door-

o the occupation of chauffeur is never explained to those who see only the finished article. Jack praised him as a model of chauffeury accomplishments, among which were a knowledge of seventeen languages more or less, to say nothing of dialects, and a temper warranted to stand a burst tyre, a disordered silencer, an uncertain ignition, and (incidentally) a broken he

e, or shed its safety valve, or anything," I remarked with

e professional for the amateur. "The one thin

ould do. Of course, if it were satisfied with merely killing me, neatly and thoroughly, I still felt that I should not mind; indeed, would be rather grateful than otherwise.

auty," I admitted. "Those red cushions and all t

sort of lattice which muzzled the dragon's mouth, disclosing some bulbous cylinders and a tangle of pipes and wires. "It's the dernier cri. That engine will work as long as there's a drop of

ad to tow it some day," I murmured more to myself t

," she said, her eyes laughing through a triangular talc window. "You will have learned to love

never in my life been less interested in the subject of extraneous girls, and with all Molly's tact, it seemed strange that she should not recognise this. However, she

like a tendril round a little crimson toadstool at our feet, and Jack took the tonneau in lonely state. This was, no doubt, an act of fine self-abnegation on his

baskets on the mudguards at the side were stowed with maps and guide-books for the tour, and (as Molly r

h no self-respecting American woman ever travelled, and by whose aid wonderful dishes could be turn

heart began to throb, throb. The chauffeur sprang to his toadstool. Molly moved a lever which said "R-r-r-tch," pressed one of her small but de

il bark passed under their bows, like huge Atlantic liners. The hansoms were fierce black sharks skimming viciously round us, and there were other monsters whose forms I had no time to analyse: but into the midst of this

y brain, with a mixture of self-contempt and pity, that my last thought before the end would be one

ted. I wreathed my face with a smile which, though stiff as a plaster mask, was a useful screen; and as South Afri

like it?"

" I breezi

her night, of course, you were a little absent-minded. Besides, it was dark, and the streets wer

brave," said the poor, deceived girl. "Of course it's having been a soldier, and all that. People who've been in battle wouldn't think anything of a first motor experience ("Oh, wouldn't they?" I inwardly chortled). But, do you

ut-er-don't you think that omnibus in front is rather large-near, I mean? You mustn't exert

I responded with some base flattery, though by this time that smi

he funniest sensation, as if they were turning up in my shoes. One se

d sagging towards the roadway, enough to frighten the gentlest automobile. Ours seemed far from gentle, and besides, we could not possibly stop in time to avoid impalement on the iron spikes. Molly and I, if not Jack and the chauffeur, must surely die a peculiarly unpleasant and unnecessary death, in the morning of our

I braced myself for the death-dealing blow. But, as in a dream one finds without surprise that the precipice, over which one is hanging by an eyebrow, obligingly transfo

e world which had denied me Helen, I had felt distinctly annoyed at the necessity, had not g

uietly as though we had not passed through a crisis; and ind

ous risks sometimes, or at least it seems so when you're n

down to a pace which would have been mean even for a donkey. We continued this rate of progression for a peaceful but all too brief interval; then in the line of traffic opened a narrow canal which I hoped might es

. The tension of muscles relaxed, as if a string which had held them tight-like the limbs of a Jumping Jack-had been let go. I leaned back against the crimson cushions of my seat with a new and singular sense of well-being

t prevented us from passing, and Molly had just remarked how vexing it was to be kept back by a mere hansom, when plunk! down went the little nag on his nose. It was one of those tumbles in which the horse collapses in a limp heap without any sliding, though he had been going fast downhill, and of course the hansom stopped dead. The whole

ike lightning. Without any violent wrench, the car stopped apparently in less than its own length, and as, even t

ulatory pat on the shoulder. "Good girl; that was perfect. Couldn't have been better," he murmured. We waited until we had seen that neither man nor horse was badly hurt, and then sped on again

as far removed from any I had experienced in travelling by rail, even on famous lines, which give glorious views if one does not mind cinders in the eye or the chance of having one's head knocked off like a ripe apple. I seemed to be floating in a great opaline sea of pure, fresh air; for such dust as we raised was beaten

er was no sooner left behind than quaint old sleepy Cobham came to view; between there and Ripley was but a gliding step over a road which slipped like velvet unde

notice, busying himself with the baskets, spreading a picnic cloth under a shady tree, and putting a bottle of Graves to cool in a neighbouring brook. Meanwhile Molly was doing mysterious things with her chafing-dish and several little c

ich could, in an incredibly short time, serve up by the ways

own wallpaper and four steel engravings of bloodthirsty scenes from the Old Testament. A sleepy head waiter would have looked at me with a polite but puzzled ex

eply would have been: 'Cold 'am or beef, sir; chops, if you choose to wait.' Those words are probably

ish in your family," remarked Jack, "y

Duke,"

no Dukes handy," said Molly. "Besides, it's

ou took up with a chau

are, in poetry and serials, which must be convenient when you're really very poor, because if you're hungry,

bliged to let my dear old house in Oxfordshire, and the only luxuries I can afford ar

o shoot big game, you avoided girls, for fear people might suppose your alleged bear hunt was really an heiress hunt. I forgive Jack, because that was in the dark ages, b

marry men from our side of the water wouldn't let the papers advertise their weddings as 'functions' (sounds like obscure workings o

ome of our newspapers are like Mr. Hyde. Poor Dr. Jekyll can't do anything with him; and anyhow, you needn't think we're all like that. I have a friend who is one of the greatest heiresses i

Molly cherished a secret intention of springing her peerless friend Mercédès upon me, during this tour which she had organised, it seemed better for everyone concerned that the hope should be nipped in the bud. It was with unwonted meekness that she yielded to being suppressed, and I suffered