I swallowed a piece of salmon before replying.

“Frankly pessimistic,” I said.

Berry raised his eyes to heaven and ground his teeth.  A hard look came upon Jonah’s face.

“And we’ve got to sit there and watch that liar laugh in his sleeve,” he said bitterly.

“And pay his costs as well as our own,” said I.  “Jolly, isn’t it?”

Daphne touched me upon the arm, and I looked up She was very pale.

“D’you think it’s hopeless?”

“I think, darling, we’re up against it.  And—­and I’m terribly afraid.”

“I see,” she whispered.  “Need Jill and I go back?”

“Jill needn’t, but you must, dear.  You’re a witness.”

As I spoke, I shot a glance at my cousin.  The latter was unburdening her soul to Madge Lacey, the quondam bridesmaid, and, to judge from such fragments of the load as reached my ears, uttering sufficient slander regarding Mr. Douglas Bladder to maintain another dozen actions at law.

As some cold tongue was set before me—­

“Every thing was going so well,” said Daphne miserably.  “I thought Berry was splendid.”

“He was,” said I, sousing my brandy with soda.  “So were you, sweetheart.  Nobody could have done more.  And they don’t disbelieve you and Jonah.  They just think you’ve made a mistake.”

She nodded dully.

“I don’t blame them,” she said slowly.  “That man is so terribly clever.  His whole attitude——­”

A cry from Jill interrupted her.

“Daphne!  Boy!  She saw the car!  On the way to the wedding.  It nearly ran into her too.  And Nobby running after it.”

“What?”

Four mouths—­three empty and one full of tongue—­framed the interrogative simultaneously.

“Mother and Dad and I,” announced Miss Lacey, bubbling, “were driving to the wedding.  As we turned out of Long Lane into the Buckler Road, a great green car went by like a flash of lightning.  Fortunately we were on the other side, or we’d have been smashed up.  And, miles behind, there was a little white dog running the same way.  I saw him, because I was back to the engine.  Of course we were going much faster than him, and I soon lost sight of him.”

Nobby!

Berry was the first to recover.

“Thank Heaven I dragged him in.”  He glanced at his watch.  “Counsel must know this at once.  Come on.  Never mind the bill:  we can settle later.”

No one who was that afternoon lunching at the Savoy will ever forget our eruption from the restaurant.  The girls actually ran.  Berry, Jonah, and I, pursued by frantic waiters, thrust in their wake, taking the carpeted steps three at a time, and generally evincing such symptoms of nervous excitement as are seldom seen save upon the screen of a cinematograph.  Indeed, our departure would have done credit to any stage manager, and I firmly believe that the majority of the guests attributed our behaviour to the ingenious brain of a manufacturer of films.