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 car, and she and Perseus, having alighted, walked slowly through the grass to the cottage.

“The very place,’ she whispered as she clung to his arm. “A month of this, Perseus, and 4

“Well?”

“I could be very happy here with you,” she said.

“For a month?”

“Well, we are not bound to stay on for ever. What ducky windows!” she cried. They were diamond-paned, leaded, and the tiny curtains were white as snow. Geraniums flourished in red pots on the window-sills, and in the wee front garden.

In answer to his knock a grey-haired, rosy-cheeked, active-looking woman appeared, evidently not a little surprised to see such visitors. She looked past them to the red car by the roadside, which was softly humming, like a gorgeous summer fly.

Perseus quickly introduced himself and his business. His wife and he were looking for a spot in which they could spend a quiet month. Was the cottage to be let? The old lady, who had shrewd eyes, hesitated. Then he asked her