ite a cad. He walked till the
drive curved, then began running hard. A quarter of a mile, and already
he felt better, not so miserable and guilty; it was something to feel you
had a tough job in hand, all your work cut out--something to have to
think of economizing strength, picking out the best going, keeping out of
the sun, saving your wind uphill, flying down any slope. It was cool
still, and the dew had laid the dust; there was no traffic and scarcely
anyone to look back and gape as he ran by. What he would do, if he got
there in time--how explain this mad three-mile run--he did not think.
He passed a farm that he knew was just half-way. He had left his watch.
Indeed, he had put on only his trousers, shirt, and Norfolk jacket; no
tie, no hat, not even socks under his tennis shoes, and he was as hot as
fire, with his hair flying back--a strange young creature indeed for
anyone to meet. But he had lost now all feeling, save the will to get
there. A flock of sheep came out of a field into the lane. He pushed
through them somehow, but they lost him several seconds. More than a
mile still; and he was blown, and his legs beginning to give! Downhill
indeed they went of their own accord, but there was the long run-in,
quite level; and he could hear the train, now slowly puffing its way
along the valley. Then, in spite of exhaustion, his spirit rose. He
would not go in looking like a scarecrow, utterly done, and make a scene.
He must pull himself together at the end, and stroll in--as if he had
come for fun. But how--seeing that at any moment he felt he might fall
flat in the dust, and stay there for ever! And, as he ran, he made
little desperate efforts to mop his face, and brush his clothes. There
were the gates, at last--two hundred yards away. The train, he could
hear no longer. It must be standing in the station. And a sob came from
his overdriven lungs. He heard the guard's whistle as he reached the
gates. Instead of making for the booking-office, he ran along the
paling, where an entrance to the goods'-shed was open, and dashing
through he fell back against the honeysuckle. The engine was just
abreast of him; he snatched at his sleeve and passed it over his face, to
wipe the sweat away. Everything was blurred. He must see--surely he had
not come in time just not to see! He pushed his hands over his forehead
and hair, and spied up dizzily at the slowly passing train. She was
there, at a window! Sta