"My word of honour."
"Very good, very good.
But say, what's that you've got there in your hand?"
"My stop watch.
I'm going to time it as we go.
Just like to see what the sleigh can do."
Lenz grinned.
"Yes, boys, Jupp is fully armed.
I dare say the jolly old Citroen is quivering in every cylinder al ready."
Jupp ignored the irony.
He plucked excitedly at his cap.
"Then we'll start, Herr Lenz, eh?
A bet's a bet."
"Of course, you little compressor.
Au revoir, Pat.
See you later, Bob." Gottfried climbed into the seat. "Now, Jupp, show the lady how a cavalier and future ruler of the world starts."
Jupp adjusted the goggles over his eyes, waved like an old hand, and in first gear pulled out smartly over the curb onto the road.
Pat and I sat awhile on a seat in front of the station.
The hot white sun lay full on the wooden wall that shut off the platform.
There was a smell of resin and salt.
Pat leaned back her head and closed her eyes.
She sat perfectly still, her face turned to the sun.
"Are you tired?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"No, Robby."
"There comes the train," said I.
The engine came stamping along, black, little and forlorn against the quivering, great waste.
We got in.
The train was almost empty.
It moved' off puffing.
The smoke of the engine hung thick and black in the air.
Slowly the landscape revolved past—the village with the brown thatched roofs, the meadows with cows and horses, the wood, and then, peaceful and sleepy in the hollow behind the dunes, Fraulein Muller's house.
"There is Fraulein Muller," said Pat.
"So she is."
She was standing at the front door waving.
Pat took out her handkerchief and let it flutter from the window.
"She won't see that," said I, "it's too small and thin.
Here, have mine."
She took it and waved.
Fraulein Muller waved back vigorously.
The train gradually gained the open country.
The house vanished and the dunes were left behind.
Beyond the black strip of the wood the sea looked out from time to time—the glance of a watching tired eye.
Then came the soft golden green of the fields and the ears of corn dipping in the gentle breeze to the horizon.
Pat gave me back my handkerchief and sat in a corner.
I pulled up the window.
That's over, thought I, thank God, that's over.
It had been only a dream.
A damned bad dream.
Shortly before six we reached the city.