"By Jove, this chap can drive!" ejaculated Ted, as they rocked round a corner, shaving the curb, and gaining a yard or two on the other hansom. From that came fragments of angry shouts. "Idiot!—drive a cow!—afraid of— ’Tisn’t a _funeral_, man!" "This is Henley Road," cried Nell, "and we’re still leading!" There was a final mad and unlawful spurt, and Ted’s hansom leading by a yard or two, they dashed up in style before a pair of incredulous, horrified eyes watching their mad approach from Mrs. Barclay’s drawing-room window. Moreover, the window was open, and a pair of ears, as incredulous and horrified as the eyes, listened to a babel of laughter and talk, to arguments on the horses’ and drivers’ merits. Nell broke in suddenly, "Good gracious, _how are we to get in_?" There was a pause. "Allow me to scratchulate my head and ruminate," Denis observed. Ted suggested: "How about the old German? When does he come in? I suppose he has a key?" "He’s gone away till Monday!" "I have it," ejaculated Denis; "I, even I, will climb that passage gate and effect a burglarious—oh, my prophetic soul, my—_aunt_!" A voice—an awful, laughter-killing voice, smote upon their startled ears. "So," it said, in accents hard and cold, "this is the way you behave in my absence!" She came slowly down the steps of the next-door house. Denis strode to open the gate, hat in hand. "How are you, Aunt Kezia? Quite an unexpected pleasure!" Ted raised his hat. She took no notice of either salutation. "May I ask how you intend to enter the house?" "With your key, Aunt Kezia. Could things have happened more fortunately?" The twinkle in his gay blue eye was irresistible. "You arrive at the crucial moment—a ministering angel—a fairy godmother—" "Be quiet, sir! You are impertinent! And my latchkey," a dull pink spread slowly over her face, "is packed in my box, and my box is coming on this evening. I could not dream that I should need my key at half-past two o’clock, the time I arrived home!" He winked at Nell. "Do you always pack your key, Aunt Kezia?" in an innocent little voice. "No! Once more, may I inquire how you intend to enter the house?" "You see that wooden gate? I will climb it—Excelsior—or perish in the attempt! Once over that, I can enter by the kitchen or the passage door." "So you did not even trouble to lock them?" "Sure, then, how would we be getting in if we had?" "It was me!" burst out Nell, and her voice trembled. "I!" said Miss Kezia. "Fare thee well! I go to attack bolts and bars for you!" He made for the gate, which only opened from the inside, swarmed airily up, and disappeared with a wave of his hand. "Is Miss Hadlow quite well now, Aunt Kezia?" queried Nell, breaking the awful silence. "No! When I read in your letter that still Mrs. Barclay had not returned, I considered it my duty to come back! _It is well I did so_!" "I must be off," said Ted, turning to shake hands with Nell.