y
Monsieur Charretier, in a great car which might have been mine if I had
accepted it, not "with a pound of tea," but with two hundred pounds of
millionaire. I knew the lovely valley of the Loing, and the forest which
makes the world green and shadowy from Bourrau to Fontainebleau, a world
where poetry and history clasp hands. I should have had plenty to say
about it all to Jack, if we had been together, but I was still inside
the car, and by this time Bertie had induced his stepfather to consent
to his driving again. He pleaded that there had been something wrong
with the ignition yesterday. That was why the car had not gone well. It
had not been his fault at all. Sir Samuel, always inclined to say "Yes"
rather than "No" to one he loved, said "Yes" to Bertie, and had cause to
regret it. Close to Fontainebleau Mr. Stokes saw another car, with a
pretty girl in it. The car was going faster than ours, as it was higher
powered and had a lighter load. Naturally, being himself, it occurred to
Bertie that it would be well to show the pretty girl what he could do.
We were going up hill, as it happened, and he changed speed with a
quick, fierce crash. The Aigle made a sound as if she were gritting her
teeth, shivered, and began to run back. Bertie, losing his head, tried a
lower speed, which had no effect, and Lady Turnour had begun to shriek
when Jack leaned across and put on the hand-brake. The car stopped, just
in time not to run down a pony cart full of children.

No wonder the poor dear Aigle had gritted her teeth! Several of them
turned out to be broken in the gear box.

"We're done!" said Jack. "She'll have to be towed to the nearest garage.
Pity we couldn't have got on to Paris."

"Can't you put in some false teeth?" suggested Lady Turnour, at which
Bertie laughed, and was thereupon reproached for the accident, as he
well deserved to be.

Then the question was what should be the next step for the passengers. I
expected to be trotted reluctantly on to Paris by train, leaving Jack
behind to find a "tow," and see the dilemma through to an end of some
sort, but to my joyful surprise Bertie used all his wiles upon the
family to induce them to stop at Fontainebleau. It was a beautiful
place, he argued, and they would like it so much, that they would come
to think the breakdown a blessing in disguise. In any case, he had
intended advising them to pause for tea, and to stay the night if they
cared for the place. They would f