a big political meeting at
Plymouth, and at ten o'clock he turned out of the garage of the Royal
Hotel, and alone drove through the brilliant, starlit night back to
Babbacombe. Usually when he went out at night he took Budron, the head
chauffeur, with him. But on this occasion he had left the man in London,
superintending some repairs to one of the other cars. Hence he put on a
cigar, and, alone, drove leisurely along the rather narrow, winding high
road which leads from Plymouth through Plympton and Ivybridge.

The distance was twenty-five miles or so, and he travelled swiftly
during the last portion of it.

It was nearly half-past eleven when he passed through Torquay, then
silent and deserted, and ascending the hill, was quickly on the
Babbacombe road.

Suddenly, however, when within half a mile of his own lodge gates, at a
sharp bend in the narrow road along the cliffs, he found himself facing
a heavy wagon, the driver of which was asleep.

There was the crash of a heavy impact, a shattering of glass, a rearing
of horses, and next second his lordship, shot out of his seat, was lying
on the other side of a low hedge, doubled up and quite still, while the
car itself was overturned and completely wrecked.

CHAPTER XV.

HIS LORDSHIP'S VISITOR.

The two doctors, summoned by telephone from Torquay, stood beside Lord
Bracondale's bed, and after careful examination and long consultation,
grew very grave.

His lordship had been carried unconscious to the park and upstairs into
his own tastefully-furnished room, where he still remained motionless
and senseless, though two hours had now passed.

In addition to severe contusions, his shoulder was badly dislocated, and
it was also feared that he had suffered severe internal injury through
being thrown against the steering-pillar of the car. The examination had
occupied a long time, and the greatest consternation had been caused in
the big household, the servants going about pale and scared.

Dr. Wright-Gilson, the elder of the two medical practitioners, a rather
bent, grey-bearded man, addressing his colleague, said, after a long
discussion:

"I really think that Morrison should see him. If I telephoned to him at
Cavendish Square he could be down here by ten o'clock to-morrow. We
could then have a consultation, and decide whether to operate or not."

To this the younger man agreed; therefore Wright-Gilson went into the
library with Jenner, the stout, whit