"Would your lordship mind if I sent the boy to the Savoy Hotel first?"
he asked nervously. "It is rather late, and Miss Vanrenen will be expecting me."
"What time are you due at the Savoy?"
"We were to start at twelve o"clock, but the ladies" luggage had to be strapped on, and----"
"Ah, the deuce! That sounds formidable."
"Of course they must stow everything into the canvas trunks I supplied, my lord."
Medenham stooped and examined the screws which fastened an iron grid at the back of the broken-down vehicle.
"Whip open the tool box, Dale, and transfer that arrangement to my car," he said briskly. "Make it fit somehow. I don"t approve of damaged paintwork, nor of weight behind the driving-wheels for that matter, but time presses, and the ladies might shy at a request to repack their belongings into my kit-bags, even if I were carrying them. Now, Simmonds, give me the route, if you know it, and hand over your road maps. I mean to take your place until your car is put right.
Wire me where to expect you. You ought to be ship-shape in three days, at the utmost."
"My lord----" began the overwhelmed Simmonds.
"I"ll see you hanged as high as Haman before I hand over my Mercury to you, if that is what you are thinking of," said Medenham sharply.
"Why, man, she is built like a watch. It would take you a month to understand her. Now, you boy, be off to Sevastopolo"s. Where can I buy a chauffeur"s kit, Simmonds?"
"Your lordship is really too kind. I couldn"t think of permitting it,"
muttered Simmonds.
"What, then--do you refuse my a.s.sistance?"
"It isn"t that, my lord. I am awfully grateful----"
"Are you afraid that I shall run off with Miss Vanrenen--hold her to ransom--send Black Hand letters to her father, and that sort of thing?"
"From what little I have seen of Miss Vanrenen she is much more likely to run off with you, my lord. But----"
"You"re growing incoherent, Simmonds. For goodness" sake tell me where I am to go. You can safely leave all the rest to me, and we haven"t a minute to lose if I am to secure any sort of a decent motoring kit before I turn up at the hotel. Pull yourself together, man. Action front and fire! Guns unlimbered and first range-finder dispatched in nineteen seconds--eh, what?"
Simmonds squared his shoulders. He had been a driver in the Royal Artillery before he joined Viscount Medenham"s troop of Imperial Yeomanry. There was no further argument. Dale, Oriental in phlegm now that Eyot was safely backed, was already uns.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the luggage carrier.
Half an hour later, the Mercury curled with sinuous grace out of the busy Strand into the courtyard of the Savoy Hotel. The inclosure snorted with motors, the air was _petrolise_, all the world of the hotel was going, or had already gone, to Epsom.
One quick glance at the lines of traffic showed Medenham that the Swiss Rear-Admiral on duty would not allow him to remain an unnecessary instant in front of the actual doorway. He swung his car to the exit side, crept in behind a departing taxicab, and grabbed a hurrying boy in b.u.t.tons.
"You listen to me, boy," he said.
The boy remarked that his hearing was perfect.
"Well, go to Miss Vanrenen and say that her motor is waiting. Seize a porter, and do not leave him until he has brought two canvas trunks from the lady"s rooms. Help him to strap them on the grid, and I"ll give each of you half-a-crown."
The boy vanished. Never before had a chauffeur addressed him so convincingly.
Medenham, standing by the side of the car, was deep in the contours of a road map of Suss.e.x when a sweet if somewhat petulant voice, apparently at his elbow, complained that its owner could not see Simmonds anywhere. He turned instantly. A slim, straight-figured girl, wearing a dust-cloak and motor veil, had come out from the Savoy Court doorway and was scrutinizing every automobile in sight. Near her was a short, stout woman whose personality seemed to be strangely familiar to Medenham. He never forgot anyone, and this lady was certainly not one of his acquaintances; nevertheless, her features, her robin-like strut, her very amplitude of girth and singular rotundity of form, came definitely within the net of his retentive memory.
To be sure, he gave her but brief survey, since her companion, in all likelihood Miss Vanrenen, might quite reasonably attract his attention. Indeed, she would find favor in the eyes of any young man, let alone one who had such cause as Viscount Medenham to be interested in her appearance. In her amazingly lovely face the haughty beauty of an aristocrat was softened by a touch of that piquant femininity which the well-bred American girl seems to bring from Paris with her clothes. A ma.s.s of dark brown hair framed a forehead, nose, and mouth of almost Grecian regularity, while her firmly modeled chin, slightly more p.r.o.nounced in type, would hint at unusual strength of character were not the impression instantly dispelled by the changing lights in a pair of marvelously blue eyes. In the course of a single second Medenham found himself comparing them to blue diamonds, to the azure depths of a sunlit sea, to the exquisite tint of the myosotis. Then he swallowed his surprise, and lifted his cap.
"May I ask if you are Miss Vanrenen?" he said.
The blue eyes met his. For the first time in his life he was thrilled to the core by a woman"s glance.
"Yes."
She answered with a smile, an approving smile, perhaps, for the viscount looked very smart in his tight-fitting uniform, but none the less wondering.
"Then I am here instead of Simmonds. His car was put out of commission an hour ago by a brutal railway van, and will not be ready for the road during the next day or two. May I offer my services in the meantime?"
The girl"s astonished gaze traveled from Medenham to the spick and span automobile. For the moment he had forgotten his role, and each word he uttered deepened her bewilderment, which grew stronger when she looked at the Mercury. The sleek coachwork and spotless leather upholstery, the shining bra.s.s fittings and glistening wings, every visible detail in fact, gave good promise of the excellence of the engine stowed away beneath the square bonnet. Evidently Miss Vanrenen had cultivated the habit of gathering information rapidly.
"_This_ car?" she exclaimed, with a delightful lifting of arched eyebrows.
"Yes, you will not be disappointed in it, I a.s.sure you. I am doing Simmonds a friendly turn in taking his place, so I hope the slight accident will not make any difference to your plans."
"But--why has not Simmonds himself come to explain matters?"
"He could not leave his car, which is in a side street off Piccadilly.
He would have sent a note, but he remembered that you had never seen his handwriting, so, as a proof of my genuineness, he gave me your itinerary."
Medenham produced a closely-written sheet of note-paper, which Miss Vanrenen presumably recognized. She turned to her stout companion, who had been summing up car and chauffeur with careful eyes since Medenham first spoke.
"What do _you_ think, Mrs. Devar?" she said.
When he heard the name, Medenham was so amazed that the last vestige of chauffeurism vanished from his manner.
"You don"t mean to say you are Jimmy Devar"s mother?" he gasped.
Mrs. Devar positively jumped. If a look could have slain he would have fallen then and there. As it was, she tried to freeze him to death.
"Do I understand that you are speaking of Captain Devar, of Horton"s Horse?" she said, aloof as an iceberg.
"Yes," said he coolly, though regretting the lapse. He had stupidly brought about an awkward incident, and must remember in future not to address either lady as an equal.
"I was not aware that my son was on familiar terms with the chauffeur fraternity."
"Sorry, but the name slipped out unawares. Captain Devar is, or used to be, very easy-going in his ways, you know."
"So it would seem." She turned her back on him disdainfully. "In the circ.u.mstances, Cynthia," she said, "I am inclined to believe that we ought to make further inquiries before we exchange cars, and drivers, in this fashion."
"But what is to be done? All our arrangements are made--our rooms ordered--I have even sent father each day"s address. If we cancel everything by telegraph he will be alarmed."
"Oh, I did not mean that," protested the lady hurriedly. It was evident that she hardly knew what to say. Medenham"s wholly unexpected query had unnerved her.
"Is there any alternative?" demanded Cynthia ruefully, glancing from one to the other.