His hearers could not help being surprised by this prediction. Helen leaned over the side and looked ahead.
“You are wrong this time, Mr. Brett,” she laughed merrily. “The only vehicle between us and a turn in the road is a dog-cart coming this way.”
“That merely shows the necessity of carefully choosing one’s words. I should have said ‘overtake,’ not ‘meet.’”
The carriage sped swiftly along. Helen craned her head to catch the first glimpse of the yet hidden stretch of road beyond the turning.
“Good gracious!” she cried suddenly.
Even Margaret was stimulated to curiosity. She bent over the opposite side.
“What an extraordinary thing!” she exclaimed.
Brett sat unmoved, anything in front being, of course, quite invisible to him. On the box the coachman nudged the footman, as if to say:
“Did you ever! Well, s’elp me!”
For, in the next few strides, the horses had to be pulled to one side to avoid a cart laden with potatoes, driven by a coatless youth who had one arm thrown gracefully around the waist of a girl in a huge bonnet.