ble. You would get
into trouble with the French Government, and--"

"Do you know," I grinned, "it is rather exhilarating to snap one's
fingers at governments? Just see what success I made of it with Great
Britain and Italy, on the ship!"

"You don't realize what you are laughing at," she pleaded. "It is
dangerous."

"I won't disgrace you. I seldom tremble visibly, Miss Falconer, though I
often shake inside."

Her great gray eyes were glowing mistily.

"Mr. Bayne, this is splendid of you. I--I shall go on more bravely
because you have been so kind. But I won't let you make such a sacrifice
or mix in a thing that others may think disloyal, treacherous. You know
how it looks. Why, on the steamer and on the way up to France and even
last evening--you see I've guessed now why you followed me--you didn't
trust me yourself."

"I know it," I confessed humbly. "I can't believe I was such an idiot.
Somebody ought to perform a surgical operation on my brain. I apologize;
I'm down in the dust; I feel like groveling. Won't you forgive me? I
promise you won't have to do it twice."

This time it was she who said: "But--" and paused uncertainly. I could
see she was wavering, and I massed my horse, foot, and dragoons for the
attack.

"You'll please consider me," I proclaimed firmly, "to be a tyrant. I
am so much bigger than you are that you can't possibly drive me off. I
don't mean to interfere or to ask questions, or to bother you. But I vow
I'm coming with you if I cling to the running-board!"

Her lashes fluttered as she racked her brains for new protests.

"The car is a French make," she urged,--"which you couldn't drive--"

"I can drive any car with four wheels!" I exclaimed vaingloriously.
"It's kismet, Miss Falconer; it's the hand of Providence, no less. Now,
we'll leave these notes in the _salle a manger_ to pay for our lodging,
which would have been dear at twopence, and be off, if you please, for
Prezelay."

She had yielded. We were standing side by side in the silence of the
morning, the dimness fading round us, the air taking a golden tinge.
My surroundings were plebeian; my costume was comic; yet I felt oddly
uplifted.

"Jolly old garden, isn't it?" said I.

CHAPTER XVIII

IN THE HIGH GEAR

To pass straight from a humdrum, comfortable, conventionally ordered
life into a career of insane adventure is a step that is radical; but it
can be exhilarating, and I proved the fact that day. To dwell on pres