iss Mapp faintly.

"But if the pistols are in a portmanteau----" he began.

"What portmanteau?" screamed Diva, who hadn't heard about that.

"Darling, I'll tell you presently," said Miss Mapp. "That was only a
guess of mine, Padre. But there's no time to lose."

"But there's no tram to catch," said the Padre. "It has gone by this
time."

"A taxi then, Padre! Oh, lose no time!"

"Are you coming with me?" he said in a low voice. "Your presence----"

"Better not," she said. "It might---- Better not," she repeated.

He skipped down the steps and was observed running down the street.

"What about the portmanteau?" asked the greedy Diva.

* * * * *

It was with strong misgivings that the Padre started on his Christian
errand, and had not the sense of adventure spiced it, he would probably
have returned to his sermon instead, which was Christian, too. To begin
with, there was the ruinous expense of taking a taxi out to the
golf-links, but by no other means could he hope to arrive in time to
avert an encounter that might be fatal. It must be said to his credit
that, though this was an errand distinctly due to his position as the
spiritual head of Tilling, he rejected, as soon as it occurred to him,
the idea of charging the hire of the taxi to Church Expenses, and as he
whirled along the flat road across the marsh, the thing that chiefly
buoyed up his drooping spirits and annealed his courage was the romantic
nature of his mission. He no longer, thanks to what Miss Mapp had so
clearly refrained from saying, had the slightest doubt that she, in some
manner that scarcely needed conjecture, was the cause of the duel he was
attempting to avert. For years it had been a matter of unwearied and
confidential discussion as to whether and when she would marry either
Major Flint or Captain Puffin, and it was superfluous to look for any
other explanation. It was true that she, in popular parlance, was
"getting on," but so, too, and at exactly the same rate, were the
representatives of the United Services, and the sooner that two out of
the three of them "got on" permanently, the better. No doubt some crisis
had arisen, and inflamed with love.... He intended to confide all this
to his wife on his return.

On his return! The unspoken words made his heart sink. What if he never
did return? For he was about to place himself in a position of no common
danger. His plan was to drive past the club-house,