She was emphatic about this. "I can't, Britten! I must stay in Paris. It is my last chance of seeing Count Joseph before he returns to Vienna for the summer. Oh, is there no way? Is it quite impossible?" I scratched my head. Something had been inside it for some minutes. "Would you care to sit on the box beside me, madame?" She was all ears at this. "Of course I wouldn't mind. Have I not myself driven a car? Count Mendez taught me at Cannes last year." "Could you drive this car a little way on the road to Italy?" "Why, certainly I could. But how would that help us?" "Supposing," said I, "that you didn't mind my old mackintosh, madame. I've got that, and a leather cap I keep for the cold weather. If you would put them on and sit beside me, I think we might do it. You can drive if there's any necessity to do so." She clapped her hands so loud that I thought they would hear us on the Promenade des Anglais below. "I'll do it, Britten--as I'm a living woman I'll do it. Go and bring your clothes. We may not have an hour to spare. I'll cheat them yet, Britten. Oh, you clever man--you clever man to have thought of it." "We might start at dusk, madame. Pay your bill, and give it out that we are going into Italy this afternoon. You needn't come back. I'll find you a private room next door to the garage, where you can change, and we can set off just like two drivers on the box-seat, and nobody a penny the wiser. When you get to Paris I can take you to a little hotel----" She was like a child about it. "Why, of all the clever men! You shall look after me in Paris. I won't forget you, Britten, and I'm rich enough for anything--at present. You shall stop with me until Count Joseph comes----" I thought to myself that it would be an over-long engagement in that case; but there was no call to say anything of the kind to her, and stopping only to repeat my directions, I went round to the garage and made ready. If Madame herself was excited at the prospect of giving the fat man the go-by, I was no less; and I assure you that no boy's game I had ever played excited me half as much. Best of all was the thought that our quickness would forestall them; and if the authorities did decide to expel her, we should be on the road to Paris long before the edict arrived.