No one would have recognised either of them had it been possible to see
them,--so carefully were their heads swathed in their coverings. She
was veiled and he was goggled, and both of them scrooged down in the
seat apprehensively. Hardy's car, borrowed in reality for the occasion,
was performing nobly. It careened through the muddy streets of the
village with a sturdiness that augured well for the enterprise. Out
into the country road, scudding northward, it sped. Dauntless increased
the speed, not to the limit, on account of the fog and uncertainty of
the road, but enough to add new thrills to the girl who crouched beside
him. Neither spoke until they were far from the town line; the strain
was too intense.
"What will everybody say?" she finally cried in his ear--the most
natural question in the world. "And the newspapers? Oh, dear!"
"You're not weakening, are you?" he cried. "Shall I turn back?"
She was silent for half a mile.
"No," she replied at last, "I couldn't climb UP that ladder. And
besides--" with a gasp as the car shot over the railroad tracks,--"we
never could get as good a start as this again."
"Bully for you!" he shouted.
"How far is it to Fenlock, Joe?" she asked, a quaver in her
high-pitched voice.
"About seven miles. We'll take the short cut through O'Brien's Lane and
strike Cobberly Road again at the crossroads. Then it will be easy
going. We'll catch the flyer all right, Nell. Everything's arranged.
You go into Car 5 and I in Car 7--"
"With a whole car between us? Heavens!"
"It's safest, dear. There might happen to be some one on board who'd
know us and suspect. Keep your veil down until you get into the berth.
There's not much danger of any one being up at this time of night, but
don't take any chances."
"Goodness, isn't it thrilling! And when do we get to Omegon?"
"Little after seven in the morning. My cousin will meet us in a hack
and drive us straight to the church. His wife will go with us as the
extra witness. By eight o'clock we'll be married. Derby will be on the
train with us. He's a full-fledged preacher now, and he'll marry us
without a whimper."
"Oh," she sighed deliciously, in spite of the jarring of the motor,
"isn't it nice to have old college chums who can be depended upon?"
"Poor old Windomshire," he laughed in the buoyancy of conquest.
"I don't think he'll---" She stopped.
"What?"
"Care very much," she concluded. He laughed doubtingly.
Mile after mile the car traversed the misty night, jolting over the
ruts in the lane, taking the hills blindly--driven entirely by the hand
of Good Luck.
Suddenly the "honk, honk!" of an invisible motor struck upon their
tense ears, the sound coming from some point ahead in the black, narrow
lane. Dauntless sat straight and peered ahead, sounding his horn
sharply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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