Please drive slowly along
this wall. It contains
two hidden gates.
A quarter of a mile farther on, where the wall ended, came another board, which said, simply:—
THANK YOU!
Philip's comment on this pretty device was characteristic.
"What a beast you would feel," he said to himself, "if you didn't drive slowly and then found that 'Thank You!' sticking out at the end!"
He made a mental note that if ever he possessed a car of his own and came to this wall, he would comply punctiliously with the request upon the first board and so earn the right to read the second. He added a rider to the effect that if ever he possessed a house of his own like that he would put out a similar board.
He had scarcely passed the second of the concealed gates—the first was a mere kitchen door—when there was a grinding of bolts, and the gates were dragged open, slowly but resolutely, first one and then the other, by a small but intensely fat girl of seven or eight. This proceeding exposed to view the front of an ancient and ivy-clad house. Exactly opposite to the front door stood a motorcar of antique design and dilapidated appearance. From beneath the car projected a pair of human feet, attached to a pair of lengthy legs. The owner of the legs was apparently doing something painful to the underbody of the car, from beneath which came a stream of objurations of a bloodthirsty but innocuous type, punctuated by the clink of a spanner.
The small girl, breathing heavily, stooped down to inspect these operations. Presently, adopting a more comfortable but somewhat reptilian attitude, she crawled bodily under the car. Here she encountered the head of the mechanic, who was lying on his back, engaged apparently in the task of removing mud-stalactites from the bottom of the car with a spanner. As fast as the stalactites were dislodged they fell into the excavator's eyes or mouth.
"What are you doin' of, Daddy?" enquired a husky but interested voice in his ear.
"Eating mud," replied the mechanic. "Splendid thing for the digestion, Dumps. Have some?"