Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/67



O-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