It was quite true. They were caught like rats in a trap, and Ann’s heart sank. She had lived long enough to know that there are always a certain number of censorious people sufficiently ungenerous and narrow-minded to make mischief out of any awkward happening, no matter how innocently it may have occurred.
“Can’t you think of any way out, Tony?” she said at last. “I—I don’t seem to know what to do.” She looked round her vaguely, feeling confused and unnerved by the awkwardness of their predicament.
“There’s not a châlet within reach, or I’d go off there for the night,” answered Tony, adding with a twinkle in his eyes: “And although I might, of course, sleep outside, if you preferred—on the top of the Roche d’Or, for instance!—I’m afraid it wouldn’t help matters much, as my frozen corpse would require about as much explaining away as the fact that we’ve stayed the night here.”
He had never felt less like joking, but he was rewarded by seeing a faint smile relax the strained expression on her face.
“Don’t worry, Ann,” he pursued, tucking a friendly arm into hers. “No one need ever know. But I could kick myself for landing you into this mess. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t gone fooling about at the top of that ravine and come to grief we should be buzzing comfortably homeward in the train.”
“You did it for me,” cried Ann quickly. Now that the first shock of realisation was over she was recovering her usual cheery outlook on things. “You mustn’t blame yourself. It’s no one’s fault. It’s just—”
“The cussedness of things,” vouchsafed Tony, as she paused.
“Yes, Just that. Well”—she gave her shoulders a slight shrug as though she were shaking off a burden—“we may as well make the best of things. At least we shall see the sunset up here. It’s supposed to be rather wonderful, isn’t it?”
“I believe the sunrise is the special thing to see. You’ll have to get up early to-morrow, ma’am.” He paused a moment, then went on with frank admiration: “Ann, you’re a real little sport! There isn’t one girl in twenty would have taken this business as well as you have. They’d have been demanding my head on a charger.”
“It wouldn’t be any use making a fuss about a pure accident,” she returned philosophically. “Let’s just enjoy it—the sunset and the moonrise and everything else. Oh! I do hope they’ll give us a decent dinner! You did us out of our tea by tumbling over the precipice—don’t make a habit of it, please, Tony!—and I’m simply starving.”