I felt for a match.
Finger to lip, Adèle leaned forward.
"For Heaven's sake," she cried, "don't say there's none in the can!"
"My darling," said I, "you've spoken the naked truth."
There was a long silence. The gush of a neighbouring spring was suggesting a simple peace we could not share.
Suddenly—
"Help!" shrieked the English Rose. "Help! I'm being compromised."
So soon as we could induce him to hold his tongue, a council was held.
Presently it was decided that I must return to Argelès, if possible, procure a car, and bring some petrol back as fast as I could. Already the day was growing extremely hot, and, unless I encountered a driver who would give me a lift, it seemed unlikely that I should be back within an hour and a half.
We had, of course, no hope of salvation. Help that arrived now would be too late. Lourdes would be teeming. The trivial round of Pau would be in full blast. The possible passage of another car would spare us—me particularly—some ignominy, but that was all.