four o'clock sharp
If Madame herself was excited at the prospect of giving the fat man the go-by , I was no less ; and I assure you that no boy 's game I had ever played excited me half as much . Best of all was the thought that our quickness would forestall them ; and if the authorities did decide to expel her , we should be on the road to Paris long before the edict arrived . As to what might happen afterwards , I was indifferent ; for Paris is the same as London to a proper motor-man , and I am just as much at home in the Champs Elysêes as in Regent Street . So I left that to fortune , and , setting about the plan , I had my things packed and the car made ready under an hour , and at four o'clock sharp that afternoon I picked up Madame and her trunks at the door of the hotel and set off boldly as though to drive her to the Italian frontier . But I turned back before we had gone a mile , and making straight for the little Italian hotel next door to the garage , I smuggled her in without a soul being the wiser , and out again as cleverly just after dusk . She was dressed then just as I have told you -- mackintosh up to her ears and a flat leather cap , suiting her pretty face to perfection . But any fool could have seen she was a woman twenty yards away ; and I began to ask which was the bigger idiot -- me for making the suggestion , or she for taking it ?