Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (204 page)

"Why
should
you
trouble
to
do
that
if
you
can't
use
them
yourself?"
said
Fanshawe.

"Oh,
I
don't
know;
one
ought
to
have
a
decent
pair;
and—well,
old Patten
doesn't
think
those
are
fit
to
use."

"Is
he
a
judge?"

"He's
got
some
tale:
I
don't
know:
something
about
old
Baxter. I've
promised
to
let
him
tell
me
about
it.
It
seems
very
much
on
his mind
since
last
night."

"Why
that?
Did
he
have
a
nightmare
like
me?"

"He
had
something:
he
was
looking
an
old
man
this
morning,
and he
said
he
hadn't
closed
an
eye."

"Well,
let
him
save
up
his
tale
till
I
come
back."

"Very
well,
I
will
if
I
can.
Look
here,
are
you
going
to
be
late?
If you
get
a
puncture
eight
miles
off
and
have
to
walk
home,
what
then? I
don't
trust
these
bicycles:
I
shall
tell
them
to
give
us
cold
things
to eat."

"I
shan't
mind
that,
whether
I'm
late
or
early.
But
I've
got
things to
mend
punctures
with.
And
now
I'm
off."

It
was
just
as
well
that
the
Squire
had
made
that
arrangement
about a
cold
supper,
Fanshawe
thought,
and
not
for
the
first
time,
as
he wheeled
his
bicycle
up
the
drive
about
nine
o'clock.
So
also
the
Squire thought
and
said,
several
times,
as
he
met
him
in
the
hall,
rather pleased
at
the
confirmation
of
his
want
of
faith
in
bicycles
than
sympathetic
with
his
hot,
weary,
thirsty,
and
indeed
haggard,
friend.
In fact,
the
kindest
thing
he
found
to
say
was:
"You'll
want
a
long
drink to-night?
Cider-cup
do?
All
right.
Hear
that,
Patten?
Cider-cup,
iced, lots
of
it."
Then
to
Fanshawe,
"Don't
be
all
night
over
your
bath."

By
half-past
nine
they
were
at
dinner,
and
Fanshawe
was
reporting progress,
if
progress
it
might
be
called.

"I
got
to
Lambsfield
very
smoothly,
and
saw
the
glass.
It
is
very interesting
stuff,
but
there's
a
lot
of
lettering
I
couldn't
read." "Not
with
glasses?"
said
the
Squire.

"Those
glasses
of
yours
are
no
manner
of
use
inside
a
church—or inside
anywhere,
I
suppose,
for
that
matter.
But
the
only
places
I
took 'em
into
were
churches."

"H'm!
Well,
go
on,"
said
the
Squire.

"However,
I
took
some
sort
of
a
photograph
of
the
window,
and
I dare
say
an
enlargement
would
show
what
I
want.
Then
Wanstone;
I should
think
that
stone
was
a
very
out-of-the-way
thing,
only
I
don't know
about
that
class
of
antiquities.
Has
anybody
opened
the
mound it
stands
on?"

"Baxter
wanted
to,
but
the
farmer
wouldn't
let
him."

"Oh,
well,
I
should
think
it
would
be
worth
doing.
Anyhow,
the next
thing
was
Fulnaker
and
Oldbourne.
You
know,
it's
very
odd about
that
tower
I
saw
from
the
hill.
Oldbourne
Church
is
nothing like
it,
and
of
course
there's
nothing
over
thirty
feet
high
at
Fulnaker, though
you
can
see
it
had
a
central
tower.
I
didn't
tell
you,
did
I?
that Baxter's
fancy
drawing
of
Fulnaker
shows
a
tower
exactly
like
the
one I
saw."