“And many thanks to you, General.”
The next morning broke very cold and gray. We were well advanced in December, and the frost was making us his first visit for the winter; indeed, it was cold enough to give Miss Daisy the opportunity of looking charming in a fur coat when I met her at the station. Dick came to see us off, and I must admit that I felt more responsibility than I quite liked in seeing the cheerful confidence he reposed in me.
“It is but a chance that I can do anything,” I reminded him. “I may fail.”
“No fear,” he replied. “I expect a pardon by return of post. By-the-way, we got the manor of Helmscote in Edward the Third's time—Edward the Third, remember—and the baronetcy after Blenheim. The governor doesn't object to be reminded of that kind of thing if you do it neatly. But you know the trick.”
“I should rather depend on your sister's eloquence,” I suggested.
“Oh, she's like me; can't stand on her hind legs and catch cake,” laughed Dick. “We are plain English.”
“Not so very plain,” I said to myself, glancing at my travelling companion's fresh little face nestling in a collar of fur.