MISS GUIMSHAW'S 5 POINTS 143 



looking individual in leggings, with a high, piping 

 voice, red-rimmed eyes and an apologetic manner. 

 When Buck spoke to you on any subject he seemed 

 to be apologising for it as though it were some- 

 thing indecent that had to be mentioned or 

 spoken about against his will. 



" Where's Moriarty, and why didn't he come 

 with the car? " asked Mr French. 



" Plaze, sorr," said Buck, " Moriarty 's stuck in 

 the stable—" 



" Stuck in the where? " 



" In the stable, sorr — wid the horses. He 

 hasn't :eft them a minit since Monday afternoon, 

 and he tould me to harness the mare and stick her 

 in the car and come to the station — " 



" All right," said French. " Hop up, Dashwood. 

 Here, get the luggage on board. Buck, and I'll hold 

 the mare." 



A couple of minutes later they were on the road 

 to Drumgool under the Hght of a winter moon. It 

 was the road along which Mr Dashwood had 

 driven that morning with Miss Grimshaw when, 

 after breakfast at the Station Inn, he had accom- 

 panied her to Drumgool House. Everything on 

 the road recalled her in that poignant language 

 used by inanimate things when they remind us of 

 the people we love. 



He had spoken no word about her to French 

 since that conversation in the smoking-room of 

 the Shelbourne Hotel, and French had spoken no 

 word to him. French, having declared his haK- 



