"Trust me! I was racking my brains all the time for mediaeval terms. I must have appeared an awful lunatic!"
"But may I ask why you were picking up pebbles in the courtyard? That did look rather peculiar, I own."
"They weren't pebbles. They're land-snail shells. I'm collecting them. Mad on conchology, if you like!"
"I had to sprint to Whiterigg and back, so as to be able to follow you," chuckled Diccon. "I was so afraid I might be too late for the fun. It was luck to get here just in time."
Mildred had much to tell on her return to lunch at The Towers. Violet, to whom Diccon's practical jokes were well known, was immensely amused, though Sir Darcy and Lady Lorraine were not inclined to treat the episode so humorously.
"Mildred must not take solitary walks again," said her aunt. "I should never have given her permission to go out alone, and she must remember that in future."
"I won't forget," promised Mildred. "I was horribly scared at the time."
"Oh, it was funny!" laughed Violet. "That wretch Diccon deserves to be paid back in his own coin, though. I wonder if we couldn't manage to play a trick upon him? I'm going to cudgel my brains till I think of something."