"He heartily agreed with me. After that he gave his consent and we had a drink on it. He had several. Then he happened to think of a partridge that he'd left in the oven, and bolted off. I had a feeling that, if anything had gone wrong with the partridge, he might blame me and withdraw his favour, so I escaped and came here to tell you the glad news. And you whack me with a stick..." _Thwack!!!_ But the lady who tames lions must not forget that, after all, they are far stronger than she, and the next second Hermione found herself in an embrace which left her not so much as the power to wriggle, while her breathing was momentarily suspended by certain processes which, while damaging to the respiration, are never fatal, owing to their stimulating effect upon the heart. And this no doubt was precisely what she wanted! THE END