h a
new wind, and did she _want_ to go with us, after all? Did she wish to
tell the Prince in a sentence, how poor she really was? These were a few
of the hundred and one questions which the Fair Maid of Destrey's
charming and somewhat baffling personality set going in my mind by a
word or two.

I thought that the Prince's face fell, but Mrs. Kidder's contribution to
the defence distracted my attention.

"We don't expect to take _all_ our luggage," she said. "I suppose some
things could be sent by rail from place to place to meet us, couldn't
they?"

"Of course," I assured her, before Dalmar-Kalm could enlarge upon the
uncertainties of such an arrangement. "That's what is always done. And
your maid could travel by rail too."

"She is a Parisienne," exclaimed Mrs. Kidder, "and she's always saying
she wouldn't leave France for twice the wages I pay."

"Try her with three times," suggested Beechy. But Miss Destrey was
speaking again. "As I said, it doesn't matter about Agnes. Aunt Kathryn
and Beechy shan't miss her; and she never does anything for me."

"What a pity," complained the Prince, "that my automobile is at the
moment laid up for repairs. Otherwise I should have been only too
delighted to take you three ladies to the world's end, if you had the
wish. _It_ is not 'something less than twenty,' as Sir Ralph Moray
describes his twelve-horse-power car, but is something _more_ than
twenty, with a magnificently roomy Roi de Belge tonneau and
accommodation for any amount of luggage on the roof. By the way, yours
has at least a cover, I make no doubt, Sir Ralph?"

"No," I was obliged to admit, my mouth somewhat dry--owing perhaps to
the iced water.

"No cover? How, then, do you propose to protect these ladies from the
rain?" This with virtuous indignation flashing from his fierce eyes, and
a gesture which defended three helpless feminine things from the
unscrupulous machinations of a pair of villains.

My ignorance of motor lore bereft me of a weapon with which to parry the
attack, but Terry whipped out his sword at last.

"The ladies will be protected by their motor coats and our rugs. I'm
sure they're too plucky to sacrifice the best pleasures of motoring to a
little personal comfort when it may happen to rain," said he. "A roof
gives no protection against rain except with curtains, and even when
without them it curtails the view."

"Ah, it is cruel that I cannot get my car for you from Paris," sighed
the