him that you were a gentleman and a friend of mine. He asked me
your name, but, as I did not know it, I could only tell him that
he would learn it soon enough. Then he said something which has
puzzled me ever since. He told me to close my face. What did he
mean by that, Mr. Lorry?"

"Well, Mr. Guggenslocker, that means, in refined American, 'stop
talking,'" said Lorry, controlling a desire to shout.

"Ach, that accounts for his surprise when I talked louder and
faster than ever. I did not know what he meant. He said
positively he would not wait, but just then a second message came
from the other station. I did not know what it was then, but a
gentleman told me that it instructed him to hold the train if he
wanted to hold his job. Job is situation, is it not? Well, when
he read that message he said he would wait just twenty minutes.
I asked him to tell me how you were coming to us, but he refused
to answer. Your aunt and I went at once to the telegraph man and
implored him to tell us the truth, and he said you were coming in
a carriage over a very dangerous road. Imagine our feelings when
he said some people had been killed yesterday on that very road.

"He said you would have to drive like the--the very devil if you
got here in twenty minutes."

"We did, Uncle Caspar," interrupted Miss Guggenslocker, naively.
"Our driver followed Mr. Lorry's instructions."

Mr. Grenfall Lorry blushed and laughed awkwardly. He had been
admiring her eager face and expressive eyes during Uncle Caspar's