“Thank you both ever so much for coming.”

They drove back in silence and there was something like constraint between them.

“My God! that girl’s plucky,” said Ronny once.

Jimmy agreed.

“Gerry was my friend,” said Ronny. “It’s up to me to keep an eye on her.”

“Oh! rather. Of course.”

They said no more.

On returning to Chimneys, Jimmy was waylaid by a tearful Lady Coote.

“That poor boy,” she kept repeating. “That poor boy.”

Jimmy made all the suitable remarks he could think of.