On reaching Waterloo, Léonie sees to the boxing of her horse and dog. She elects, too, to travel with them in the horse-box as far as Bracknell, which place is reached at nine o’clock. Here the horse-box is run into a siding.
Léonie loses no time, for she knows that every moment is precious. She sees to the unboxing of the horse, and before remounting him slips a shilling into the porter’s hand.
“How far is ‘The Hut’ from here?” she inquires as she does so.
“What, the Duke of Ravensdale’s Hut, sir? Oh, nigh on two miles. But there’s no one there, sir. It’s shut up; there’s only the forrester and his wife.”
“Just, the persons I want to see. You mean of course——, there now, the name has quite slipped me,” exclaimed Léonie, with well-feigned appearance of annoyance at the name having just that moment escaped her memory.
“Why, Miles Gripper, old Miles Gripper and his wife, sir,” puts in the porter, eager to supply the young gentleman’s defective memory. “They are well known to the country round, sir.”
“Of course, of course; how stupid of me to forget!” answers Léonie briskly. “Well, now, my man, just tell me how I must frame for ‘The Hut.’”
“Just cross that there bridge, sir,” explains the porter, pointing upwards, “and bear away down to the right. Keep straight on that road, sir, till you can’t go no further; there you’ll see a road going left and right. Take the right turn, sir, and after that the next right turn what ever is, and then stick to that road, and never mind any turns that you see, until you come to two cross-roads, the left one with a signboard directing to Aldershot. Don’t you go taking either of those two turns, sir, but ride on another fifty yards, and you’ll see a small wooden gate on the left. That leads to ‘The Hut’. It’s away in the forest.”
“Thank you, my man,” says Léonie politely. “I think I understand. I go up over that, bridge, bear to the right, keep straight on till I must turn right or left, then take the right turn, and the very next that is, ride straight on until I reach the cross-roads, then about fifty yards further, where a gate on the left leads up to ‘The Hut.’ Is that it?
“Exact, sir. You couldn’t have it more exact, sir. If you follow those directions you can’t mistake,” answers the porter glibly. The shilling and the young gentleman’s whole appearance has impressed him.