But the plea did not suit Steptoe, who, for purposes of his own, wished to put Mrs.Barker beyond her husband's possible reach.

He smiled grimly.

"I think you'd better take the woman with you," he said.

"I don't think," he added in a lower voice, "that the boys would like your leaving her.

They're very high-toned, they are!" he concluded ironically.
"Then," said Van Loo, with another desperate idea, "could you not let us have saddle-horses instead of the buggy?
We could travel faster, and in the event of pursuit and anything happening to ME," he added loftily, "SHE at least could escape her pursuer's vengeance." This suited Steptoe equally well, as long as the guilty couple fled TOGETHER, and in the presence of witnesses.