"'Good Lord! ma'am,' I gasped,' how in the world . . . ?'
"'That's what I want to know,' said she, with more show of menace.
'What is your game, young man? Abduction?'
"'I swear to you, ma'am,' I stammered, 'that my intentions would be
strictly honourable if I happened to have any. . . . I may be more
intoxicated than I felt up to a moment ago. . . . But let us, at all
events, keep our heads. It seems the only way out of this
predicament, that we keep strictly in touch with reality. Very well,
then. . . . You entered this vehicle, a middle-aged gentleman
something more than three sheets in the wind. You emerge from it
apparently sober and of the opposite sex. If any explanation be
necessary,' I wound up hardily, 'I imagine it to be due to _me_, who
have driven you thus far under a false impression--and, I may add, at
no little risk to the transpontine traffic.'
"'Look here!' said this astonishing female. 'I don't know how it's
happened, but I believe I am addressing a gentleman--'
"'I hope so,' said I, as she paused.
"'Well, then,' she demanded, smoothing her skirt, and seating herself
on the edge of the grass, under the lamplight.
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