CHAPTER IV
THE CALL OF THE RAIN-GIRL
TO-MORROW," remarked Beresford, as he lay back in a hammock-chair upon the inn lawn, "I set out for the haunts of men."
Tallis, who had called in after dinner for a smoke, did not reply immediately; but for fully a minute sat pulling meditatively at his pipe.
"Any criticisms?" enquired Beresford with a smile.
"That depends on how you propose to go," was the reply.
"Oh, slow, say ten miles a day."
"That's helpful," said Tallis drily.
"Helpful? What the deuce do you mean?"
"I shall know where to have the ambulance."
For a moment Beresford did not reply, then he laughed.
"You certainly are the most extraordinary fellow I ever met," he said. "So you think I can't walk ten miles?"
"You'll collapse before you reach the third mile," Tallis replied, with the air of a man making a simple statement of fact.
63
