There Mary and Hester made the request, which was at once granted; and the farmer and his wife were so much interested that they both walked down to the Slowcoach and examined it, and the farmer advised its being taken into a yard where there was a great empty barn and backed against that; so that they had the whole of the barn as a kind of anteroom, and a most enchanting smell of hay everywhere.
"All I ask," he said, "is that you don't burn the place down with your cooking."The pot was then filled and placed on the fire.Kink skinned the rabbits and Janet and Mary put them in, while Jack and Robert and Horace walked into Cirencester to buy eatables and picture postcards and send off the telegram.
That evening after supper Janet suggested that it might be the best opportunity they would have to write the letters to X.of which they had often talked; so they made themselves comfortable in the caravan and on the barn floor, and each wrote something, not after the style of the Snarker's game at Oxford, but quite separately.
Janet wrote:
"Saturday Evening, July 8, "In a Barn near Cirencester.
DEAR X., "We thank you very much for the caravan, which is much the most beautiful present that anyone can ever have had.We have now been in it nearly ten days, and we like it more every day.We have called it the Slowcoach.The party is seven, and Kink, who drives.We have with us Mary and Jack Rotheram and Horace Campbell; but whether you know who they are or not, of course I don't know.I hope some day you will tell us who you are.
"I am, "Yours sincerely, JANET AVORY.
Mary Rotheram wrote:
DEAR MR.X.
Then she crossed out the "Mr." because, as she said, it might be a lady, and began again:
DEAR X., "I am not one of the Avories, and the caravan was therefore not given to me, but my brother and I have been so happy in it that I want to say thank you for it quite as if I were an Avory all the time.We live near them at Chiswick, you know.It has been a supreme holiday, with hardly any rain and no real troubles, although even the strongest people must sometimes get a little tired of walking on dusty roads and having to wait for meals.We each have a special duty, and I am the head cook, but Janet is really better at it than I am.Our only real disappointment is that caravaning makes you so tired that there is no chance of cricket, for we brought cricket things with us, but have never been able to use them.We might have done so at Salford, perhaps, but the river was so very tempting that we rowed about instead.
"Yours sincerely and gratefully, MARY ROTHERAM.
Jack Rotheram wrote:
DEAR X., "My sister Mary has said who I am, but she has not explained how it is I am here.It is because my brother William and I tossed up for it; He called 'Heads,' and it was tails, so I won at once.And then he said 'Threes,'
which means the best out of three, and this time he called 'Tails' and it was heads, so that settled the thing absolutely.He was, of course, most frightfully sick about it, but the next time the Avories go out in the caravan they are going to ask him and not me, which will put the thing right.It is a ripping caravan, and I am sure I thank you very much, although it's not mine.
"Yours truly, "JOHN ILFORD ROTHERAM.
Robert, who was not a sprightly writer, merely described the course they had followed, which we all know.The only news he had to give was at the end: "So far, up to the time of writing, my pedometer registers fifty-six miles; which is, of course, only what I have walked, and not what we have done, for we all take turns to ride for fear of getting too tired and being seedy.The caravan has done altogether one hundred and forty miles, and since we were in it ninety miles exactly."Horace, after great difficulty, wrote:
DEAR X., "I am having a top-hole holiday in the caravan you gave the Avories.I am the Keeper of the Tin-opener.
"Yours truly, HORACE CAMPBELL.
Hester wrote:
DEAR X., "I have long wanted to write to you and tell you that we adore the Slowcoach, which is the name we have given your caravan, and think you were awfully clever to think of it and to make it so complete.
We have not had to buy anything, and the only thing you forgot was the license; but Uncle Christopher remembered.I love walking behind the Slowcoach and seeing the world pass by.But the evenings are the most alluring, and I like to wake up at night and hear the birds and animals just outside the window, although on the first night I was frightened.We had one evening with real gipsies, but Janet would not allow me to go inside their caravan, because of fleas and things.But I could see through the door that it was not so attractive as the Slowcoach.I wish this journey would never end, but I fear it has to do so on Tuesday, which draws nearer every moment.
"I am, "Your grateful and admiring friend, HESTER MARGARET AVORY.
"P.S.--I hope we shall never know who you are, because anonymous things are so much more exciting.
"P.S.2.--We have met many motors, and they are always coming up behind us and making us jump and blinding us with dust, but we have never envied them."Gregory wrote painfully:
DEAR X., "Thank you most awfully for the Slowcoach.It is very good and suitable.Iam the Keeper of the Corkscrew, and also the Requester of Camping-Grounds.
"Your affectionate GREGORY BRUCE AVORY.
