The Princess Passes

Les

road that

Stev

, and become a lone wanderer on the face of the earth. Gotteland had seen to the shipping of the car from Sout

e under present conditions in England. Our way was to lie along the Seine to Paris, and Jack recalled to

like players in the old game of "stage coach." Sometimes Molly had the reins, and I the seat of honour by her side. Sometimes Jack drove, with Molly beside him, I in the tonneau; then I knew th

studying history, geography, or even Tit-Bits. Jack Winston, however, though he has actually taken the trouble to house in his memory an enormous number of facts,-"those brute beasts of the language,"-has so tamed and idealised the creatures as to make them not only tolerable but attractive. I can even hear

don't hurry on, the way we've been planning to do? Last year we had that wonderful chain of feudal chateaux in Touraine, to show us what kingly and noble life was in dim old days. Now, all along the Seine and near it, we shall have some spl

ld say, a long procession of cold, majestic cathedrals would have reduced me to a limp pulp. "No," Molly went on, "I can't help thinking that the churches would be a sort of anticlimax after our beloved, warm

y hurry for them," said Jack,

ure that edelweiss will do him more good than

long, and want to get rid of me?" I asked myself. I could scarcely believe this. They were too kind and cordial; still, something in that look exchanged between them hinted at a secret which concerned me, and my curiosity was pricked. Nevertheless, I was grateful to Mol

s, to the extent of various experiments actively disapproved of by my family, and the old fire was easily relit. I listened to his harangue in mere civility at first, then with a certain eagerness. Molly sat in the tonneau, Jack driving, full-petrol ah

imes been narrow enough to take a kind of pride in this. The sweet English country had yielded up her secrets to me; I knew her spring whimsies, her soft summer moods, her autumn dreams, her wintry tempers, and I had vaunted my faithfulness and love. But here was France in prime of summer, giving me of her best. My heart warmed to

ak short his string of motor technicalities and point out the position of the Roman theatre, almost the sole treasure of the sort possessed by Northern Europe. I stared through my goggles at the castle where the Conqueror unfolded to the assembled barons his scheme for invading England; and I begged for a slackening of speed

ack urged a turning aside for St. Wandeville or, at least, for the abbey of Jumièges, poetic with memories of Agnes Sorel, whose heart lies in the k

metimes leaving it. Quickly enough to please even this unaccountably impatient Molly, we had measured off t

France?" Jack inquired, looking back at Molly as he turned from the quay up the Rue Gra

see it, but we knew that it meant business. "You and I will spend hours in the cathedral another time," she said. "But now-" She did n

f the trial and burning. But never mind, since she wills it, we'll shake the dust off our Michelins, a

ittle pistons working under control of the "governor,"-a tyrant, I felt sure. I had already formed a mature opinion on the question of mechanically operated inlet valves (which sounded disagreeably surgical), and was able to judge

On the instant the machine leaps into frenzied life. The carburetter sprays its vapour into the explosion chamber, the magnet flashes its sparks to ignite it, the cooling water bathes the hot walls of the cylinders-a thing of nerves, and ganglions, and tireless muscles is panting eagerly at your service. You move thi

teau Gaillard. Still Jack was not quite ready to let me put my newly acquired knowledge into practice. There was a hill of some consequence before Mantes, which we had to reach by way of La Roche Guyon and

d up at the towering battlements, the huge flanking towers, and the ponderous citadel, the dark mass on its lofty rock s

felt like a drained orange; not that I enjoyed hearing myself talk, or thought that Jack and Molly would do

n Molly broke it. "Oh, Lord Lane, have you forgotten that this i

" I asked, laughing. "I don't believe, after all, it can be any worse than steering a toboggan down a good run,

se," said Molly, "still-I thi

di

ng the simplest thing in the world, really," he assured me. "There'

o prove that, just at first!" cried

ure of himself and the car. You needn't be frightened. I know my man, or I sh

I was afraid. I was only in a funk that I should do something stupid, and be disgraced forever in the eyes of Molly Winston. However, I reflected, it couldn't be so very bad. Molly herself, an

ope. "A light touch is best, you know; it's rather like steering a boat. A very slight movement does it, and in half an hour i

y, I slid the lever into position, and let in the clutch. Somehow, I had not expected it to answer so soon; but, as if it disliked being patted by a stranger, the dragon took the bit bet

n the off side, then the ditch on the near. My eyes expanded until they must have filled my gogg

self; but strange to relate, I remained unmolested. Jack confined his interference to an occasional "Whoa," or "Steady, old boy"; while

en I had by a miracle avoided a tree as large as a house, which I h

splendidly," said Jack. "You deserve praise

ch of the wheel. Soon, I was imitating a straight line with fair success, subject to a few graceful deviations. I realised that, af

ne to my magnet, or the candle to my moth), Jack finally consented to grant my request. He told me clearly what to do, and I did it, or some inward servant of myself did, whenever the master was within an ace of losing his head. I pressed down the clutch-pedal, pulled the lever affectionately towards me, and very gradually opened the throttle, so as not to startle it. In spite of my caution, however, I thought for an instant we were really going to get on the other side of the horizon, which had been avoiding us f

Molly in the Fulham Road; how I must not forget that the foot brakes had a way of obeying fiercely, and must not be applied with violence; how I must remember to pull the brake lever by my hand, towards me if I wanted to

, thank you," I interpolated impatiently. "More-more! Fas

or the first time. "Hurrah, the motor microbe is in h

ahead, then!

have shouted for joy. Mercédès