ing down!

After a faint--very faint--protest, Delphine took her seat in front,
while I sat in solitary state inside, leaning back against the cushions
with an outward appearance of ease, but inwardly uncomfortably conscious
of a heart which beat more quickly than necessary. This was all very
well, but what next? What was to happen when the half-hour was up, and
Delphine went off to her library books and left us alone?

Could I sit still where I was? It would seem absurd, not to say
discourteous. Would he ask me to change seats? Would he expect me to
suggest it? Suppose he did? Suppose he didn't? And when we were
settled, what should I find to say? My mind mentally rehearsed possible
openings. "How beautiful the country is looking."

"English villages are so charming."

"How was the General when you saw him last?" On and on like a whirligig
went the silly, futile thoughts, while before me the two heads wagged,
and nodded, and tossed, and a laughing conversation was kept up with
apparently equal enjoyment on both sides. Delphine had a child's
capacity for enjoying the present; even when the car pulled up and she
alighted before the door of the "Parish Hall," the smile was still on
her face. The little treat had blown away the cobwebs; she was
refreshed and ready, if not precisely anxious, for work.

"Thanks awfully, Ralph. That was as good as a hundred tonics! I do
think a car is a glorious possession." Then she looked at me and nodded
encouragingly. "Now it is your turn! It's ever so much more fun in
front. Ralph will be quite proud of sitting beside your bonnet!"

So after all neither of us said it, and I should never have the
satisfaction of knowing if he had meant--

He opened the door, and I meekly got out and took the other seat. What
was the use of making a fuss? Delphine disappeared behind the oak door,
the engines whirled, and we were off again, steaming out of the village,
and down the sloping road which led to the lovely sweep of the heath,
the speed steadily increasing, until we were travelling at a good forty
miles an hour. Four milestones flashed past before either of us spoke a
word; then in desperation I made a beginning.

"She needs change, doesn't she? It's quite touching to see how it
cheers her up."

"She?" he repeated. "Who?" He turned his eyes on me as he spoke, and
they were absolutely, genuinely blank. Astounding as it appeared, he
really did not know.

"Delph