“What about taking the car to Stanningleigh. I need some cigarettes and I’ll stand you a box of chocolates.” “No.” Howard looked at her suspiciously. “Is this a new game? ‘No, thank you. . . . No, thanks. . . . No.’ Trying to make it shorter each time, is that it? Well, you’ve got to the bottom of the bag this shot. This is where the master-brain says ‘Checkmate!’ Ahem! Like to take a boat out on the river for a while? You can’t say No in less than two letters.” Vera made no audible response, but she shook her head in refusal. Her companion admitted his defeat gracefully. “Didn’t think you’d manage it. You win. Will you have a saucepan or a cheap alarm clock? All the other prizes have been awarded already.” Then, as though dismissing trifles and becoming serious: “What’s to be done? We can’t sit around like this the whole day. Time’s on the wing, and all that.” Vera looked at the shadows on the grass. “It’s getting on certainly. We really haven’t time to do much before tea.” “It couldn’t miss that, I suppose? It wants its tea?” “It wants its tea,” Vera admitted, gravely. Howard looked at his watch. “Pity we wasted the best part of the afternoon just sitting round and loafing,” he commented disconsolately. For a few moments he remained silent, evidently turning various projects over in his mind. “Tell you what,” he suggested at last. “Ever been in the old Maze down there by the boat-house? No? Neither have I. What about dashing over and trying our luck with it? Part at the entrance; and the first that gets to the centre wins the game. They say it’s a grand puzzler.” “Well, if it will make you happy, I don’t mind. But wait a moment. Hasn’t the Maze got two centres? Somebody told me that once.” Howard brushed the objection aside. “The first one to reach either centre scores a win. If you get there, sing out. I’ll trust to your native honesty to keep you from cheating.” It was comfortable under the trees, and Vera attempted to put off the evil moment of departure even by a few seconds. “How many entrances has the Maze?” “Oh, don’t know, exactly. Four or five, I think. Nothing in that. Take the first one we come to, whichever it is. Then you go to the right and I’ll go to the left, or t’other way about if you like; and the best man wins. I’ll risk a box of chocolates or a tin of cocoa on it, if you insist. Come along, don’t let’s decay here any longer; I see a bit of moss has grown on my toe since we sat down—and no wonder.” Vera gave in and rose from her seat with feigned reluctance. “Bit stiff in the joints with sitting so long?” Howard inquired, sympathetically. “It’ll wear off at once.” As they sauntered across the stretches of turf which led down to the Maze, Vera was struck by the quietness of the grounds. “Whistlefield’s a lovely place, isn’t it, Howard?”