e mischance, the supply usually held in reserve had been left at
Bristol!

The Frenchman was very angry with Smith, and Smith was humbly
apologetic. The pair must have acted convincingly, because each knew
to a nicety how soon a gallon of petrol would vaporize in the Du
Vallon's six cylinders. Having taken the precaution to measure that
exact quantity into the tank before leaving Cheddar, they were
prepared for a breakdown at any point within a few hundred yards of
the precise locality where it occurred.

Cynthia, being generous-minded, tried to make little of the mishap. By
taking that line she strove to reassure herself.

"Fitzroy is always prepared for emergencies," she said. "He will
soon catch up with us. But what a road! I didn't really notice it
before. Surely this cannot be the only highway between Bristol and
Cheddar?--and in England, too, where the roads are so perfect!"

"There are two roads, but this is the nearest one," explained the
glib-tongued Count, seemingly much relieved by the prospect of
Fitzroy's early arrival. "You don't deserve to be pulled out of a
difficulty so promptly, Smith," he went on, eying the chauffeur
sternly.

"There's a village not very far ahead, sir," said the abashed Smith.

"Oh, never mind! We must wait for Miss Vanrenen's car."

"Wait?" inquired Cynthia. "What else can we do?"

"I take it he meant to walk to some village, and bring a stock of
spirit."

"Oh, dear! I hope no such thing will be necessary."

From that half hint of latent and highly disagreeable developments
dated Cynthia's uneasiness. She accepted Marigny's suggestion that
they should stroll to the top of the slight hill just descended,
whence they would be able to watch their rescuer's approach from a
considerable distance--she even remembered to tell him to smoke--but
she answered his lively sallies at random, and agreed unreservedly
with his voluble self-reproach.

The obvious disuse of the road, a mere lane providing access to sheep
inclosures on the hills, caused her no small perplexity, though she
saw fit not to add to her companion's distress by commenting on it. In
any other circumstances she would have been genuinely alarmed, but her
well-established acquaintanceship with the Count, together with the
apparently certain fact that Fitzroy and Mrs. Devar were coming nearer
each second, forbade the tremors that any similar accident must have
evoked if, say, they were marooned on some remote mounta