THE STRAND MAGAZINE . 
388 
I was coming out 01 Mrs. Packham’s ” — 
Mrs. Packlmm kept our village shop — 44 and 
I happened to look across the road towards 
the Dun Cow, and I’m pretty nearly certain 
that Sam Griffiths was standing at the door. 
Directly he saw me he dodged back, and you 
could hardly expect me to call at the Dun 
Cow to make inquiries, especially after what 
the landlord has been known to say on the 
subject of Votes for Women.” 
“ I never expected anything of the kind. 
Two days afterwards I saw Geoffrey Mac- 
Naughton. He had his hands in his pockets ; 
he was whistling ; he sat on the churchyard 
wall, and when he saw me he tumbled right 
over on to the other side.” 
“ Sally, you exaggerate ! TIow could he 
have done a thing like that ? ” 
“ Good ! 1 exaggerate. But he did. I 
don’t know if he expected me to go and see 
what had happened to him, because 1 was 
quite sure that he’d fallen over on purpose. 
So 1 just walked on. But when I heard what 
you said about Sam Griffiths, I put two and 
two together, and now that I glance back 
it looks to me very much like a conspiracy.” 
“ 1 can’t think that Geoffrey MacNaughton 
fell backwards over the churchyard wall on 
purpose.” 
“ Then don’t think. You know what fun 
they’ve always made of us, and how rude Mr. 
MacNaughton was to you at your uncle’s 
house ” 
“ I made up my mind never to speak to 
him again.” 
“ lie politely observed that there was one 
thing which a woman could be relied upon 
to do, and that was talk. That is what I 
understood you to tell me. You added 
that that was not the first time he had said 
it + ” 
44 It was not ; he was always saying it. 
He said that I called myself a militant, but 
that my tongue was the only militant part of 
me. He actually told me that to my face— 
he dared to.” 
“ That is the sort of remark Mr. Samuel 
Griffiths made to me. He added that that 
was one thing for which he still respected me 
—that my tongue was the only part of me 
which behaved badly. I, he cheerfully 
assured me, had too much sense even to 
break a window.” 
Oh, Geoffrey MacNaughton can grin 
when he talks like that.” 
“ When you told me what Geoffrey had 
said, and I told you what Sam had said, that 
settled it.” 
“ Obviously- there was only one thing to 
do to keep the standard flying -to preserve 1 
a rag of our self-respect. So we did it.” 
44 That is — we’re supposed to be about to 
do it.” 
“ What do you mean by that ? What do I 
you mean by 4 suppose ’ ? ” 
“ We quitted London ; we went to a part 
of the world of which we supposed no one 
had ever heard ; you took a cottage. 1 
became your paying guest. We found Mel- 
combe. And I’m inclined to wonder if, about 
the same time, Messrs. Griffiths and Mac- 
Naughton found us. I know them. When 
they found we had vanished, they would 
suspect what we were up to ; they’d put 
their heads together and they’d strain every 
nerve to track us down. Perhaps they’ve 
done it. In which case they’ve tracked us 
here.” 
41 Sally ! do you really think so ? ” 
44 You saw Geoffrey’s ghost. Do you 
believe in ghosts ? I don’t. I believe in 
Geoffrey MacNaughton ; he’s a hard-headed, 
healthy young man. 1 think it possible that, " 
so far from having hidden yourself from the 
whole world, and especially from him, you’ve 
scarcely ever been out of his sight since you 
left your uncle’s house.” 
44 Sally ! do you really think so ? What 
an awful thing to think ! ” 
She talked like that ; but I had my doubts. 
I went on. 
44 As for Sam Griffiths— Mr. Griffiths has 
nothing to do except waste his time about me. 
That’s his misfortune — and mine. I told him 
never to call at my rooms again, but I’ve no 
doubt he did— it’s not easy to stop that young 
man from doing a thing he’s set upon doing 
when he learned that I had gone away and 
left no address, I shouldn’t wonder if he 
found out what my address was within lour- 
and -twenty hours. 1 know His ways. Leila, 
we can take our choice— either those two men 
have taken our bicycles— in which case they 
have been spying on us all along, and are 
spying on us now ; or this house is inhabited 
by burglars, or coiners, or murderers, or 
something of the kind.” 
She glanced round the room, and put her 
hand under my arm. 
“ Don’t— don’t talk like that. Let’s get 
it over, and — go home.” 
44 Hear, hear ! But I don’t see how we 
could go away, even if we wanted to, without 
a bicycle. We are here, at any rate, till 
morning dawns. 1, for one, do not mean to 
walk sixteen miles, through darkness and 
rain and mud. I doubt if I could do it 'f 
I tried, and I don’t intend to try.” 
