"I am not in the least nervous," she answered, scrambling up to his side, "and a drive through this lovely air is worth a few risks. I was dreading the half-hour alone in our stuffy brougham."
"I'm glad I came, then," he said. "I heard that Mrs. Cary was ill and could not go, but I was not sure whether you would care for it. There, are you tucked in all right? Can we start?"
"Yes, by all means."
He cracked his whip, and immediately the impatient chestnut sprang forward into the darkness. They swayed dangerously through the compound gates on to the broad, straight highroad.
Beatrice laughed with excitement.
"That was splendid!" she exclaimed, pulling her cloak closer round her.
"How well you drive!"
"You seem to enjoy danger," he said, with an amused smile.
"Yes, I enjoy it," she answered, more gravely. "It is the only flavoring which I have hitherto discovered in life. The rest is rather insipid, don't you think?"
"You talk like a man," he said.
"I have been brought up to be independent and fight for myself," she returned. "That sort of thing does away with the principal differences between the sexes."