Gale Warning by Dornford Yates Page B

haven’t been fair to you. I’ll write to Mansel tonight and tell him we’re getting stale and so we’re going to Paris for two or three days.”
    “I don’t have to go to Paris. I only want to let up. Breakfast at ten – for a change. And sometimes, when we go out, to go as we please and think about something besides the lie of the land. Since my reputation is dead, we might have a wake at Dieppe – dine and dance, or something, and see the dawn come up from the other end of the day.”
    “It shall be done,” said I, and got to my feet. “As we’re here, I’ll check up on those crossroads, and then I’ll knock off.”
    Audrey sat very still.
    “Can you play backgammon?” she said.
    “My favourite game,” said I, but I did not say where I had learned it. I had played with George at Peerless, on many a winter’s night.
    “There’s a board in the car,” said Audrey.
    “What a girl,” said I. “Above all, what an English girl. Bang in the great tradition. Fancy throwing dice on a hill-top, somewhere in France.” I glanced at my wrist. “Give me ten minutes’ grace, my lady. I’ll run all the way.” And, with that, I picked up my glasses and took to my heels.
    The wood was thicker through than I had believed, but, as I was certain it would, it came to a sudden end at the head of a bluff.
    Looking west, I could see down my gully, as I had hoped; but from where I stood I could only see Cerf itself, and not the crossroads, which lay to the south of the village by forty or fifty yards.
    At once I began to move along the edge of the trees, and after perhaps twenty paces, the junction for which I was looking came into my sight. This was to my great relief, for, folly or no, I had added a valuable viewpoint to those I had. The coppice was easy to reach and the view which it offered was clear: and when you are watching someone who must not suspect your game, it is very much wiser to do it from four miles off.
    I made my way back to our aerie in very good cue, for if we were to take our ease for the rest of the day – and I must confess I liked the idea very well – at least we had ended our work on a very high note.
    I went so fast that I had no time to reflect – to be perfectly honest I did not want to reflect – upon a post-prandial communion I had not at all enjoyed. The storm was over, and that was enough for me. My lady had been out of humour, and now was appeased.
    But when I came to where I had left her, she was not there: and when I looked down for the Lowland, the car was gone.
    And then I saw a page from my note-book, lying where I had been standing, at the foot of a tree.
    Its legend went straight to the point: You had been warned.
     
    If I cannot defend my lady, I cannot defend myself. A man with the sense of a louse would have played backgammon first, and afterwards walked to the bluff to look at the view. But, because I had no such sense, I had let her wait upon a business of which I knew she was sick. And that was the straw which had broken the camel’s back.
    It was true – I had been warned. But having no ears to hear, I had not heard the warning – with this result.
    Audrey was gone…with the car. And the nearest town was Dieppe, some seven miles off.
    I did not at all mind walking the seven miles – for, though there were villages nearer, Dieppe was the nearest place at which I could charter a car. But I could not cover the distance in very much less than two hours, and I did not like the idea of Audrey’s driving alone on the open road. I hoped and prayed she had had the good sense to go home. But out of her present mood God only knew what folly might not arise. And she was far too attractive and far too attractively dressed to leave the car unescorted by some cavalier.
    Once this pregnant reflection had entered my head, I began to imagine vain things and to picture my darling beset by somebody stronger than she, whilst I was out of her ken and so unable to help her in her