“You really must be quick,” he urged; “the horses are turning Borton corner.”
“But don’t you think I should pass unobserved if you were to get away from the tree?” observed Lady Gwendolyn timidly.
“Impossible. Your red cloak must have been a feature in the landscape for some time past. You had better leave it where it is, to account for what they have seen, and if you are very quick, we shall be able to hide ourselves before they get on high ground again.”
“That’s all very well, but——”
“Shall I give you a little help?”
“Not for worlds! I would rather stay here all night.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you are laughing at me in your sleeve. You did not see the bull’s great glaring eyes.”
“If you had made him a present of your cloak he would have been so taken up with his toy that you would have been able to make your escape in a legitimate way.”
“That’s all very well, but I really can’t afford to throw my clothes away in that fashion. I have come down to Teignmouth on purpose to economize, because I exceeded my allowance last year, and my brother had to help me through. Now he is married he has to pay his wife’s debts, and, of course, I am left out in the cold; so I am obliged to be horribly careful, you see. Teignmouth says I ought to make three hundred pounds a year do; but then you men never understand what heaps of things a woman wants.”