ugh. "But I wish I could buy a second-hand racer cheap."

"What for?" Aggie demanded.

Tish looked at her with scorn. "To hold flowers on the dining-table,"
she snapped.

It being necessary, of course, to leave a chaperon with Bettina, because
of the Jasper person's habit of coming over at any hour of the day, we
left Aggie with instructions to watch them both.

Tish and I drove to the drug store together, and from there to a garage
for gasoline. I have never learned to say "gas" for gasoline. It seems
to me as absurd as if I were to say "but" for butter. Considering that
Aggie was quite sulky at being left, it is absurd for her to assume an
air of virtue over what followed that day. Aggie was only like a lot of
people--good because she was not tempted; for it was at the garage that
we met Mr. Ellis.

We had stopped the engine and Tish was quarreling with the man about
the price of gasoline when I saw him--a nice-looking young man in a
black-and-white checked suit and a Panama hat. He came over and stood
looking at Tish's machine.

"Nice lines to that car," he said. "Built for speed, isn't she? What do
you get out of her?"

Tish heard him and turned. "Get out of her?" she said. "Bills mostly."

"Well, that's the way with most of them," he remarked, looking steadily
at Tish. "A machine's a rich man's toy. The only way to own one is to
have it endowed like a university. But I meant speed. What can you
make?"

"Never had a chance to find out," Tish said grimly. "Between nervous
women in the machine and constables outside I have the twelve-miles-an-
hour habit. I'm going to exchange the speedometer for a vacuum bottle."

He smiled. "I don't think you're fair to yourself. Mostly--if you'll
forgive me--I can tell a woman's driving as far off as I can see the
machine; but you are a very fine driver. The way you brought that car
in here impressed me considerably."

"She need not pretend she crawls along the road," I said with some
sarcasm. "The bills she complains of are mostly fines for speeding."

"No!" said the young man, delighted. "Good! I'm glad to hear it. So are
mine!"

After that we got along famously. He had his car there--a low gray thing
that looked like an armored cruiser.

"I'd like you ladies to try her," he said. "She can move, but she is as
gentle as a lamb. A lady friend of mine once threaded a needle as an
experiment while going sixty-five miles an hour."

"In this car?"

"In this car."