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us their shelter, hill-tops their sweet prospects, hamlets their quiet content. An amazing sundown set our cup brimming. That this might run over, Bidache itself gave us a chateau--ruined, desolate, and superb. There is a stateliness of which Death holds the patent: and then, again, Time can be kind to the dead. What Death had given, Time had magnified. Years had added to the grey walls a peace, a dignity, a charm, such as they never knew while they were kept. The grave beauty of the place was haunting. We passed on reluctantly.... A quarter of an hour later we ran into Peyrehorade. Here Adele relieved my brother-in-law and, encouraged by the promise of a late tea, made the most of the daylight. Eighty minutes later we slid into Pau. As we swept up the drive of our villa-- "Well," said Berry, "I must confess it's been a successful day. If we'd lunched with Evelyn, we should have missed that venison, and if the main road hadn't been vile, we should have missed Bidache. Indeed, provided no anti-climax is furnished by the temperature of the bath-water, I think we may congratulate ourselves." Adele and I agreed enthusiastically. Falcon met us in the hall with a note and a telephone message. The first was from Mrs. Swetecote. _DEAREST DAPHNE,_ _How awful of you! Never mind. I know how terribly easy it is to forget. And now you must come over to us instead. Falcon insisted that you would wish us to have lunch, so we did--a jolly good one, too. And Jack smoked one of Berry's cigars, and, of course, we both lost our hearts to Nobby. In fact, we made ourselves thoroughly at home._ _Your loving EVELYN._ _P.S.--Try and find out who's staying at Pau with a blue all-weather coupe. They went by us to-day like a flash of lightning. Fortunately we were going dead slow, so it was all right. But they ought to be stopped._ The second was from Jonah. As rendered by Falcon, it ran:-- "Captain Mansel's compliments, sir, and, as Mrs. Adele Pleydell was the last to drive Ping, 'e thinks _she must 'ave 'is key_.... And as Love's the honly thing as laughs at locksmiths, sir, will you kindly return this forthwith.... I asked Captain Mansel where 'e'd like you to meet 'im, sir, but 'e said _you'd_ know." From Pau to La Barre is seventy miles--as near as 'damn it.' * * * * * I covered the distance alone. All the way a memory kept whispering abo
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