The Lightning Conductor | Page 6

to the grassy side of the road, where in the dusk I
could dimly see him holding his hand to his mouth and rocking
backwards and forwards. He did look so like a distracted goblin that I
could hardly steady my voice to ask if he was much hurt. "Nearly broke
my hand, that's all, miss," he growled. At last he flew at the terrible
handle again, managed to start the motor, and we were off.
Going up a hill in a town that Rattray said was called Lewes, I noticed
that the car didn't seem to travel with its customary springy vigour.
"Loss of power," Rattray jerked at me over his shoulder when I
questioned him as to what was the matter, and there I had to leave it,
wondering vaguely what he meant. I think he lost the way in Lewes (it

was now quite dark, with no stars); anyhow, we made many windings,
and at last came out into a plain between dim, chalky hills, with a
shining river faintly visible. Aunt Mary had relapsed into expressive
silence; the car seemed to crawl like a wounded thing; but at last we got
to Newhaven pier, and had our luggage carried on board the boat.
Rattray was to follow with the car in the cargo-boat. So ended the
"lesson for the first day "--a ten-hour lesson and I felt sadder as well as
wiser for it.
Aunt Mary went to sleep as soon as we got on the boat; but I was so
excited at the thought of seeing France that I stayed on deck, wrapped
in the warm coat I'd bought for the car. We had a splendid crossing, and
as we got near Dieppe I could see chalk cliffs and a great gaunt crucifix
on the pier leading into the harbour. It seemed as if I were in a dream
when I heard people chattering French quite as a matter of course to
each other, and I liked the douaniers, the smart soldiers, and the
railway porters in blue blouses. It was four in the morning when we
landed. Of course, it was the dead season at Dieppe, but we got in at a
hotel close to the sea. It was lovely waking up, rather late, one's very
first day in France, looking out of the window at the bright water and
the little fishing-boats, with their red-brown sails, and smelling a really
heavenly scent of strong coffee and fresh-baked rolls.
Later in the morning I walked round to the harbour to find that the
cargo-boat had arrived, and that Rattray and the car had been landed.
The creature actually greeted me with smiles. Now for the first time he
was a comfort. He did everything, paid the deposit demanded by the
customhouse, and got the necessary papers. Then he drove me back to
the hotel, but as it was about midday I thought that it would be nicer to
start for Paris the next day, when I hoped we could have a long, clear
run. In Paris, of course, Aunt Mary and I wanted to stay for at least a
week. Rattray promised to thoroughly overhaul the car, so that there
need be no "incidents" on the way.
There was a crowd round us next morning--a friendly, good-natured
little crowd--when we were getting ready to start in the stable-yard of
the hotel.

Our landlady was there, a duck of a woman; the hotel porters in green
baize aprons stood and stared; some women washing clothes at a
trough in the corner stopped their work; and a lot of funny, wee
schoolboys, with short cropped hair and black blouses with leather
belts, buzzed round, gesticulating and trying to explain the mechanism
of the car to each other. Rattray bustled about with an oil-can in his
hand, then loaded up our luggage, and all was ready. With more dignity
than confidence I mounted to the high seat beside Aunt Mary. This
time, with one turn of the handle, the motor started, so contrary is this
strange beast, the automobile. One day you toil at the starting-handle
half an hour, the next the thing comes to life with a touch, and nobody
can explain why. Bowing to madame and the hotel people, we sailed
gracefully out of the hotel yard, Rattray tootooing a fanfarronade on the
horn. It was a splendid start!
The streets of Dieppe are of those horrid uneven stones that the French
call pavé, and our car jolted over them with as much noise and clatter
as if we'd had a cargo of dishes. You see the car's very solidly built and
heavy--that, said Mr. Cecil-Lanstown, is one of its merits. It is of oak,
an inch thick, and you can't break it. Another thing in its