"Really, Mr. Allingford----" began his companion. "Now look here," he retorted; "would you want an elephant tagging you round on your honeymoon?" "Well, no, I don't think I should," she replied, laughing. "Besides," he continued, "how am I to prosecute a search for our missing halves with a Noah's ark in tow?" "That does put the matter in a different light," she admitted. "You bet it does!" he replied. "As for her ladyship, she can do what she pleases with my slight token of regard. Give it to the poor of the parish, if she likes; I don't ask her to keep it." "But what is to become of me?" "Oh, you are to be sent home with the butler early to-morrow morning." "I won't go!" "Then join me." "But supposing we don't find my husband to-morrow----" "Then I'll take you down to my consulate at Christchurch for the night. I have plenty of friends there with whom you can stay." "That settles it," she replied. So it was that they stole away from the Court in the grey dawn of the next morning, footed it to Salisbury, recovered their baggage, and boarded the early train for Southampton. As it moved out of the station they passed a long line of box cars on a siding, from one of which the angry scream of an elephant resounded. "Just in time," said the Consul with a sigh of relief. "I wish her ladyship joy of my little remembrance." CHAPTER VI IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE CHANGES HIS NAME Mr. Scarsdale entered Mrs. Allingford's compartment with so great an impetus, when he swung himself into her carriage at Basingstoke, that he completely lost his balance, and shot past her on all fours, to land in a heap on the floor. A second later the guard banged the door, and the train was off. "What does this mean?" exclaimed the Consul's wife, "and where is my husband?" "Excuse me," gasped Scarsdale, picking himself up from the floor, "but I couldn't leave you." "So it appears," she replied coldly. "But you have not answered my question, and----" as the train began to move rapidly, "it is not possible that we are getting under way!" "Yes," he said gloomily, "we are off to Southampton." "Answer me instantly: where is my husband?" she demanded. "Gone to Exeter, I suppose, with my wife." "What do you mean?" "That he was carried off in the first division of the train, which left five minutes ago." "But I thought we stopped ten minutes." "So _you_ did; _we_ stopped only five. When I left you just now, I saw that the forward half of this train had disappeared, and the guard told me it had gone to Exeter, and that this portion was just leaving for Southampton. I thought it better to stay with you than to let you go by yourself; so as the carriage was moving, and it was impossible to get you out, I jumped in."