me
Piriac's prophecy. She was ready to wish the past year annihilated and
herself back once more in parental captivity at Moze, the slave of an
unalterable routine imposed by her father, without responsibility, without
initiative and without joy. And she lived again through the scenes in which
she had smiled at the customs official, fibbed to Rosamund, taken the
wounded Musa home in the taxi, spoken privily with the ageing yacht-owner,
and laughed at the drowned detective in the area of the palace in Paget
Gardens.

Everything happened in her mind while the wheel went round once, showing
her in turn to the various portions of the audience, and bringing her at
length to a second view of the sprawling policemen. Whereupon she thought
queerly: "What do I care about the vote, really?" And finally she thought
with anger and resentment: "What a shame it is that women haven't got the
vote!" And then she heard a gay, quiet sound. It was Jane Foley laughing
gently behind her.

"Can you see the big one now, darling?" asked Jane roguishly. "Has he
picked himself up again?"

Audrey laughed.

And at last the audience laughed also. It laughed because the big
policeman, unconquerable, had made another intrepid dash for the centre of
the wheel and fallen upon his stomach as upon a huge india-rubber ball. The
audience did more than laugh--it shrieked, yelled, and guffawed. The
performance to be witnessed was worth ten times the price of entry. Indeed
no such performance had ever before been seen in the whole history of
popular amusement. And in describing the affair the next morning as
"unique" the _Birmingham Daily Post_ for once used that adjective with
absolute correctness. The policemen tried again and yet again. They got
within feet, within inches, of their prey, only to be dragged away by the
mysterious protector of militant maidens--centrifugal force. Probably never
before in the annals of the struggle for political freedom had maidens
found such a protection, invisible, sinister and complete. Had the
education of policemen in England included a course of mechanics, these
particular two policemen would have known that they were seeking the
impossible and fighting against that which was stronger than ten thousand
policemen. But they would not give up. At each fresh attempt they hoped by
guile to overcome their unseen enemy, as the gambler hopes at each fresh
throw to outwit chance. The jeers of the audience pricked them to
de