ked, and she said she hadn't! Well, we hadn't got hardly
started at lunch when one of the girls passed right straight out and
then we all began feeling trembly and queer, and then the next thing I
knew I was at home in bed, and I wasn't up and about for a week. Wasn't
that awful?"

Tom's enthusiasm was ebbing fast. What a prodigious bore this race was
going to be! The wind was blowing up his legs, and his light spring
overcoat was far from ample. The seats were too close together and were
of a granite hardness; but he and Lily were wedged into the back and
could not escape without treading upon the toes of half of Woodbridge's
notables. So he sat still and tried to smile brightly at the conclusion
of her story.

"Do you know?" Lily continued, "I think you have a lovely smile."

"Goody," replied Tom, and smiled again, this time rather archly.

Lily was examining him between half closed lids. "And I think you have
nice eyes, too--particularly the lashes. They are so long and silky."

"Well, it's a great secret, of course," replied Tom, "and you mustn't
tell even your mother"--Lily giggled--"but I think you have the
prettiest way with you I have ever seen."

"Oh, dear me, you are funny. Now you must keep me warm."

The car, it has been pointed out, was full of Woodbridge notables, and
any warming of the young lady would not have been looked upon with
favour. Nor would Tom have cared to warm her had they been quite alone
at the North Pole. What an ordeal this was getting to be, and how lucky
was Nancy, comfortably seated before the fire! How good would that
particular fire be, and what a soft and fragrant place to ask a certain
question! What a contrast Nancy made to this miserable girl beside him!
Nancy at the time happened to be repairing certain ravages that the tea
had made upon her nephew's best blue suit, but the scheme of Tom's
thoughts was not spoiled.

"Bad man, you're not showing me any kind of a time."

Tom was exasperated. A group in front of them had built a fire. "How
would you like to go down there?" he asked. "Can you climb down over the
side here?"

"'Course I can."

Tom climbed over the railing, dropped to the ground, and, turning his
ankle, cried "Ouch!" loudly enough to waken the young Hartley man whose
head was lolling over the adjacent railing. The youth looked up and
beheld the lovely Lily poised, apparently preparing to fly into his
arms. He reared himself up. "Come, lovely girl," he cri