We could not have been more than a furlong behind, when the sudden appearance of a cl.u.s.ter of bright pin-p.r.i.c.ks immediately ahead showed that we were approaching Marmande.

Instantly Ping's tail-light began to grow bigger. Jonah was slowing up for the town. In a moment we should be in a position to pa.s.s....

In silence Berry and I clasped one another. Somewhere between us n.o.bby began to pant.

As we entered Marmande, there were not thirty paces between the two cars. And my unsuspecting cousin was going dead slow. A twitch of the wheel, and we should leave him standing....

Then, without any warning, Adele slowed up and fell in behind Ping.

I could have screamed to her to go by.

Deliberately she was throwing away the chance of a lifetime.

Desperately I laid my hand on her arm.

"Adele!" I cried hoa.r.s.ely. "My darling, aren't you----"

By way of answer, she gave a little crow of rejoicing and turned sharp round to the right.

Jonah had pa.s.sed straight on.

As Pong leaped forward, the scales fell from my eyes.

Adele was for the side-streets. If she could only rejoin the main road at a point ahead of Jonah, the latter would never know that we had pa.s.sed him. If...

I began to hope very much that my wife knew the plan of Marmande rather better than I.

Through the dusk I could see that the street we were using ran on to a bridge. It was there, I supposed, that we should turn to the left....

To my horror, Adele thrust on to the bridge at an increased pace.

"A-aren't you going to turn?" I stammered. "I mean, we'll never----"

"I said the road was tricky," said Adele, "but I hardly dared to hope they'd make such a bad mistake." We sailed off the bridge and on to a beautiful road. "Ah, this is more like it. I don't know where Jonah's going, _but this is the way to Pau_.... And now I think it'll be safe to have the lights on. You might look behind first to see if they're coming. You see, if they'd seen us go by, the game would have been up.

As it is..."

At half-past seven that evening we drove into Pau.

Arrived at our villa, we put the car away and hurried indoors.

It was almost eight o'clock when Ping discharged his pa.s.sengers upon the front steps.

In silence and from the landing we watched them enter the hall.

When they were all inside, I released n.o.bby.

CHAPTER III

HOW A GOLDEN CALF WAS SET UP, AND n.o.bBY SHOWED HIMSELF A TRUE PROPHET

Five fat weeks had rolled by since Adele had eased Jonah of sixty pounds, and the Antoinette ring we had given her to commemorate the feat was now for the first time in danger of suffering an eclipse. In a word, a new star had arisen.

"I dreamed about it," said Daphne. "I knew I should."

I knitted my brows.

"I wish," said I, "I could share your enthusiasm."

"Ah, but you haven't seen it."

"I know, but I don't even want to. If you'd come back raving about a piece of furniture or a jewel or a picture, I should have been interested. But a shawl... A shawl leaves me cold."

"I agree," said Jonah. "I've learned to appear attentive to the description of a frock. I keep a special indulgent smile for the incoherence inspired by a hat. But when you pipe to me the praises of a shawl--well, I'm unable to dance."

"Wait till you see it," said Adele. "Besides, there were some lovely rugs."

"That's better," said I. "I like a good rug."

"Well, these were glorious," said Jill. "They had the most lovely sheen. But, of course, the shawl..."

"If anyone," said Jonah, "says that ugly word again, I shall scream."

It was half-past nine of a very beautiful morning, and we were breakfasting.

The last two days had been wet. In the night, however, the clouds had disappeared, leaving the great sky flawless, an atmosphere so rare as tempted shy Distance to approach, and the mountains in all the powdered glory of their maiden snow.

Seventy miles of magic--that is what Pau stares at. For the Pyrenees, viewed from this royal box, are purely magical. They do not rise so high--eleven thousand feet, as mountains go, is nothing wonderful.

There is no might nor majesty about them--distant some thirty odd miles. They are just an exquisite wall, well and truly laid, and carved with that careless cunning of the great Artificer into the likeness of some screen in Heaven.

Where, then, is the magic? Listen. These mountains are never the same. To-day they are very nigh; to-morrow they will stand farther than you have ever seen them. On Monday they will lie a mere ridge above the foot-hills; on Tuesday they will be towering, so that you must lift up your eyes to find the summits. But yesterday you marvelled at their stablishment; this morning they will be floating above the world. One week the clear-cut beauty of their lines and curves gladdens your heart; the next, a mocking mystery of soft blurred battlements will tease your vision. Such shifting sorcery is never stale. Light, shade, and atmosphere play such fantastic tricks with Pau's fair heritage that the grey town, curled comfortably in the sunshine upon her plateau's edge, looks not on one, but upon many prospects. The pageant of the Pyrenees is never done.

As for the wedding garment which they had put on in the night--it made us all late for breakfast.

The door opened to admit Berry.

The look of resignation upon his face and the silence in which he took his seat where highly eloquent.

There was no need to ask what was the matter. We knew. Big with the knowledge, we waited upon the edge of laughter.

As he received his coffee--

"I'm not going on like this," he said shortly. "It's insanitary."

Adele's lips twitched, and Jill put a hand to her mouth.