amily, and I suppose
I have inherited it. I'm just crazy over cars and boats. Anyhow, I was
introduced to Mr. Creighton and he seemed so earnest and his work was so
interesting that I bought a little of his stock. Now he needs more
money to perfect his motor. Perhaps the thing is all right, but,--well,
what do I really know about it?"

One could not help feeling a great deal of sympathy for her. She was not
the type of woman who would be easily misled, yet I could imagine that
she must constantly be on her guard against schemers of every sort
lurking to take advantage of every whim.

"H'm," mused Kennedy, with a smile, eyeing our visitor keenly. "I've
been consulted on about everything from pickpockets to the fountain of
youth. Now it's perpetual motion. I must say, Miss Laidlaw, your case
has a decided scientific interest for me, anyhow, as well as personal.
I'd like to look at this wonderful machine, if you can arrange it."

"I can do that," she answered confidently with a glance of thanks to
Kennedy for his help. "May I use your telephone?"

She had to wait some time for an answer to her call, but finally she got
Creighton on the wire.

"He had just come in," she said, hanging up the receiver. "He'll be
there if we come down right away."

Adele Laidlaw drove us downtown in her own high-powered car, which, true
to her mechanical instincts, she handled herself. She drove it very
well, too. In fact, I felt safer than with Kennedy, who, like many
drivers, was inclined to take chances when he was at the wheel himself
and could see what he was up against, though he balked severely when
anyone else did it.

"How did you become interested in this perpetual motion machine, Miss
Laidlaw?" he asked as we threaded our way through the dense traffic.

"Well, I suppose everyone knows that I'm interested in engines," she
replied, as we waited for the signal from a policeman at a cross-street.
"I've spent a good deal on them in speed-boats and in racing cars, too.
An acquaintance, a friend of Mr. Creighton's, a Mrs. Barry,--Mr. Tresham
knows her,--thought perhaps I might use the motor somehow and told me of
it. I went down to see it and--I must confess that it fascinated me."

I had not yet quite got myself accustomed to a girl who was interested
in such things, though, in these days, I must confess, saw no reason why
she should not be. Kennedy was dividing his attention between the
admirable manner in which she handled the