, a
short time ago, I had well oiled the wheels and chains; the car moved as
silently as a bat, except for the chuff! chuff! of the motor. About a
hundred yards from the lights I put on speed, and when we had begun to
scud along like a ship with all sails set, I took out the clutch and let
the motor run free. By this time we were within thirty yards of a
building which I now felt certain was the _octroi_. The car, which had
been going extremely fast, dashed on, coasting past the little lighted
house by its own impetus. Not a sound, not a creak of a wheel, not the
grating of a chain.

On we sped for full forty yards past the _octroi_ before we lost speed,
and I had to slip in the clutch.

"Oh, _Brown_!" breathed my Goddess ecstatically. Just that, and no more.
But if I had been Jack Winston and asked her to marry me at this moment,
I believe she would have said "yes," in sheer exuberance of grateful
bliss.

So far, so good, but we were not yet out of the wood. We drove quietly
on into the town, expecting every moment to be challenged for not
lighting our lamps, though we were within our rights, really, dark as it
was, for it was not yet an hour after sunset. But nothing happened; not
even a dog barked. We crossed the high bridge spanning the Aude, and the
old _cite_, which we had come to see, loomed black against the dusky
sky. No one molested us; no fiery _gendarme_ leaped from the shadows
commanding us to stop. My small trumps were taking all the tricks, but I
had a big one still in my hand. We were now--having crossed the bridge
and left the new town behind us--in a comparatively deserted region.

"My idea," I said quietly to Miss Randolph, "is to drive the car into
some dark, back street, far from the ken of the _gendarme_. It is six
o'clock. People are sitting down to dinner. That is in our favour. I
shall, if possible, find a place where the car may stand for several
hours without being remarked, while your visit is paid to the _cite_.
Here, now, is the very place!" I broke short my disquisition to remark;
for as I elaborated my plan, driving very slowly, we had arrived before
a dingy mews with a waggon standing, shafts down, on the cobbles. I
turned in and stopped both car and motor.

"This shelter might have been made for us," I said, beginning to find a
good deal of pleasure in the situation. "The only difficulty is" (out
with my big trump) "that of course someone must stay with the car. It is
my place, mi