“Wally, dear boy,” she added, turning toward the window as though apostrophizing him in reality, “now we can be good friends.  Now all the sham and pretense are at an end, forever.  As a friend, you may be splendid.  As a husband—­oh, impossible!”

Lighter of heart than she had been for years, was she, with the added zest of the long spin through the beauty of the June country before her—­down among the hills and cliffs, among the forests and broad valleys—­down to New York again, back to the father and the home she loved better than all else in the world.

In this happy frame of mind she presently entered the low-hung, swift-motored car, settled herself on the luxurious cushions and said “Home, at once!” to Herrick.

He nodded, but did not speak.  He felt, in truth, somewhat incapable of quite incoherent speech.  Not having expected any service till next day, he had foregathered with others of his ilk in the servants’ bar, below-stairs, and had with wassail and good cheer very effectively put himself out of commission.

But, somewhat sobered by this quick summons, he had managed to pull together.  Now, drunk though he was, he sat there at the wheel, steady enough—­so long as he held on to it—­and only by the redness of his face and a certain glassy look in his eye, betrayed the fact of his intoxication.  The girl, busy with her farewells as the car drew up for her, had not observed him.  At the last moment Van Slyke waved a foppish hand at her, and smirked adieux.  She acknowledged his good-bye with a smile, so happy was she at the outcome of her golf-game; then cast a quick glance up at the club windows, fearing to see the harsh face of Wally peeping down at her in anger.

But he was nowhere to be seen; and now, with a sudden acceleration of the powerful six-cylinder engine, the big gray car moved smoothly forward.  Growling in its might, it swung in a wide circle round the sweep of the drive, gathered speed and shot away down the grade toward the stone gates of the entrance, a quarter mile distant.

Presently it swerved through these, to southward.  Club-house, waving handkerchiefs and all vanished from Kate’s view.

“Faster, Herrick,” she commanded, leaning forward, “I must be home by half past five.”

Again he nodded, and notched spark and throttle down.  The car, leaping like a wild creature, began to hum at a swift clip along the smooth, white road toward Newburgh on the Hudson.

Thirty miles an hour the speedometer showed, then thirty-five and forty.  Again the drunken chauffeur, still master of his machine despite the poison pulsing in his dazed brain, snicked the little levers further down.  Forty-five, fifty, fifty-five, the figures on the dial showed.

Now the exhaust ripped in a crackling staccato, like a machine gun, as the chauffeur threw out the muffler.  Behind, a long trail of dust rose, whirling in the air.  Catherine, a sportswoman born, leaned back and smiled with keen pleasure, while her yellow veil, whipping sharply on the wind, let stray locks of that wonderful red-gold hair stream about her flushed face.