Untitled - Beeldbibliotheek

THE ENEMY 183Herbert had to stand up to a cross-fire of questionsand Sam nearly bit an old lady, and I hadto admit that it was a nice way of seeing thecountry, an ideal holiday and better than amotor, according to the usual routine. At lastwe climbed the steep hill out of the town andstoppedfor a much-needed lunch under sometrees at the top, conscious of having come verywell out of it.There is no wayout of Braemar that it waspossible for us to travel, so that we did not takethe van beyond Ballater, where we camped for aday, making the rest of the journey there andback by motor-bus. I need hardly say that webitterly regretted so reckless an undertaking.Apart from the horrors of transit, I am not surethat the expedition may be said to have been asuccess. We had laboriously searched out fromthe back of the locker all our best clothes ;for mypart, I appeared in a collar and tie, and Herberthad made a most plucky attempt upon mybrown shoes. As a finishing touch my Partnercarried an umbrella.In Braemar we discoveredthe most tremendous hotel and partook of anextremely elaborate lunch. We sat conversingat our ease, exactly as if we were in the habit ofdoing this sort of thing every day. We ordered