"I thought it was Mr.Evers!" I had hard work to suppress an exclamation.

So he had not told her what he was going to do, and yet he had not forbidden me to tell her.

Poor Bob was more subtle than I had supposed, but it was a simple subtlety, a strange chord but still in key with his character as I knew it.
"I am sorry to disappoint you," said I."But I am afraid you won't see any more of Bob Evers to-night." "What do you mean ?" asked Mrs.Lascelles, suspiciously.
"I wonder he didn't tell you," I replied, to gain time in which to decide how to make the best use of such an unforeseen opportunity.
"Well, he didn't; so please will you, Captain Clephane ?" "Bob Evers," said I, with befitting gravity, "is climbing the Matterhorn at this moment." "Never!" "At least he has started." "When did he start ?" "An hour or more ago, with a couple of guides." "He told you, then ?" "Only just as he was starting." "Was it a sudden idea ?" "More or less, I think." I waited for the next question, but that was the last of them.

Just then the interloping cloud floated clear of the moon, and I saw that my companion was wrapped up as on the earlier night, in the same unconventional combination of rain-coat and golf-cape; but now the hood hung down, and the sudden rush of moonlight showed me a face as full of sheer perplexity and annoyance as I could have hoped to find it, and as free from deeper feeling.
"The silly boy!" exclaimed Mrs.Lascelles at last.

"I suppose it really is pretty safe, Captain Clephane ?" "Safer than most dangerous things, I believe; and they are the safest, as you know, because you take most care.