She spoke all the time in quick agitated whispers. Oliver walked to the door, turned the key, and came back to her. He took one of her hands in his. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "He has been such a friend really. He trusted me so." "Well, I suppose he'll take your advice now--your wise advice--and pack himself off to-morrow morning. Breakfast in bed, and you needn't see him." "Judith will guess--I know she will. Oliver, I--I can't keep it up, with you here--not even though Arthur goes. I'm afraid of Judith now--even of Godfrey!" "I'm certainly not going to leave you here, up against it, all by yourself." She was not to be trusted alone now. She had been shewn too vividly the side of the shield which it was his task to hide from her eyes--a task to which he alone was equal. Left to herself, she might go back on the whole thing, very likely! "Take me away from it all now, won't you?" she asked. "What now--to-night?" His eyes lit up humorously. "Sharp work, isn't it? Rather difficult to get out of the house to-night without risking--well, encounters! And you wouldn't like that." "Can't you think of anything? I can't stand these next few days." He considered a moment, marshalling plans in his quick-moving mind. "Look here, can you be sure of waking up early in the morning?" "I wish I could be half as sure of going to sleep at all!" "Well, get up at half-past five--Your servants won't be about then?--pack what you want in a bag, leave it just inside your room, put on your things, and meet me outside the hall-door just before six. We'll go for a walk!" "But the station? It's nearly three miles off! And there are no trains----" "Wait, wait! My man will fetch your bag--just a little risk there, not much at that hour--hang my motor-coat over it, so that nobody can see it isn't mine, and take it round to the garage with my traps. I suppose the car'll be locked up, and he'll have to get the key from somebody. He'll say that I'm suddenly called away, that I've walked on ahead, and he's to pick me up at the east lodge. If you're seen, you're just putting me on my way, don't you see? He'll give your fellow at the garage a sovereign, and he won't be too curious!" "Yes, yes, I see!" she whispered eagerly. "Starting then, we can be in town in lots of time to catch the afternoon train to Boulogne. I'll wire the yacht to meet us somewhere else, instead of Southampton. Ostend, perhaps--that'd do all right. Now how does that suit you?" Her eyes sparkled again. "Why, it's splendid!" How difficulties seemed to vanish under his sure decisive touch! It was by this gift, more than any other, that he had won and held her. "I've managed trickier businesses than this. It's all perfectly easy, and with luck you won't be exposed to meeting any of them again." "Thank heaven!" she murmured.