tened as he thought of the horror that stood
between Deena and pleasure, and was even debating in his mind whether
it would not be better to tell his aunt the truth, when conversation
was rendered impossible for the moment by the puffing and tooting of a
great automobile advancing toward them down the west drive of the
park--its wheels slipping in a crazy manner, that made the coachman of
Mrs. Star's sleigh give it a wide berth. Just as it got abreast of
them, it became perfectly unmanageable--slewed to the left, made a
semicircle which turned it round, and, catching the back of the sleigh
on its low front, turned the light vehicle over as easily as if it had
been made of pasteboard.

Mrs. Star allowed herself a shrill shriek as the sleigh went over and
then lay quite still in a heap by the side of the road, with Stephen
across her feet. The automobile seemed to have recovered its serenity,
for it now stood still like any well-behaved machine, quiet save for
its noisy breathing, while the sleigh was being bumped, on its side,
far up the road, at the heels of the outraged horses.

French scrambled to his feet and endeavored to help his aunt, who had
raised herself to a sitting posture and was looking white and
disheveled, while she cast furious glances at the motor and its owner.
She took her nephew's hands and attempted to rise, but fell back,
declaring she had broken her knee, as it hurt her excruciatingly when
she tried to move it.

The owner of the auto now came forward in great contrition to offer
help and apologies. He was a physician, he explained, hastening to a
case of great urgency, and he had taken his automobile as the quickest
means of covering the distance, though he had known it at times to
behave badly on slippery and snowy roads.

The admission was a mistake--it put him in the wrong, and Mrs. Star,
who distrusted all modern doctors, felt a consuming rage against this
one in particular.

"You must have a strange estimate of a physician's duty if you feel
justified in risking many lives to save one!" she said, haughtily.
"Not that you are much worse than the fire engines and ambulances. We
ought to add a petition to the litany for safety against our
safeguards, for they kill more than they rescue."

The gentleman bore her sarcasms with becoming humility, and begged to
be allowed to take her home, promising that the machine should execute
no more "_Voyages en zigzag_," and she, ashamed of her temper,