A PROBLEM SOLVED
"I wish," said Mollie, sitting back to view approvingly the shining
black hood of her car, "that we had another machine. I'm afraid by the
time we've packed our bags and things into the tonneau we'll find it
rather crowded. And for such a long trip we ought to have plenty of
room."
"That's what I was thinking," agreed Amy, rubbing a bit of nickel to a
gleaming polish, for the girls had gathered at Mollie's to help her put
the car in shape for the anticipated trip to Bluff Point. And they had
gone to their work with a will, rubbing and polishing the big machine as
they would have groomed a well-loved horse. "We will have our trunks
sent, of course, but we shall have to take our nighties and combs and
brushes and such things. We might put 'em on the roof," she added
hopefully.
"Yes, and we might wear 'em," said Grace scornfully. "That is a
brilliant idea."
"Well, I have one worth two of that," said Betty, trying not to look
mysterious.
"Betty, are you going to spring anything on us?" cried Mollie, while the
other two paused with dust cloths uplifted.
"Not if you don't want me to," returned the Little Captain demurely.
"Betty, dear, I love you so," crooned Mollie, running around the car and
putting a rather oily hand about Betty's waist. "You wouldn't want such
an ardent admirer to drop dead at your feet, would you, now?"
"It would have the charm of novelty," chuckled Betty, only to add
quickly as Mollie made a threatening gesture: "No, please don't kill me
yet. Come over here on the steps and I'll tell you all about it."
"Yes, yes, go on," they cried, obediently ranging themselves on the
steps of the back porch and fixing eager eyes upon her.
"Shoot!" Mollie commanded inelegantly.
"Well," said Betty speaking slowly to add to the effect of her
announcement, "I have a car!"
"A car!" they echoed, and Grace added: "Now I know she's crazy!"
"When?" demanded Mollie, her eyes round and black, as they always were
under excitement.
"If you mean, when did I get it," answered Betty, enjoying their
surprise to the full, "I might tell you that up to six o'clock last
evening I had no more idea of owning a car than you did. However, at
six-fifteen, I owned it," and her eyes danced with the pride of
ownership.
Then the girls fell upon her, all demanding explanation of the miracle,
till she raised her hand pleadingly.
"Give me a chance," she begged. "How can I tell you anything when you're
making such a noise?"
The girls seemed impressed with the common sense of this. At any rate,
they stopped talking for the space of a half a minute.
"It was last night at dinner," explained Betty hurriedly, seizing her
opportunity. "Dad came in a little late, and as he sat down he
laughingly asked us how we would like a racing car in the family."
"A racing car!" they echoed.
"Of course we thought he was joking," continued Betty, "but when we
found he was very much in earnest of course we went wild with
excitement."
"I should think so," breathed Amy.
"But, Betty darling, how--" Mollie was beginning when Betty cut her
short by hurrying on with her story.
"That's what we wanted to know, of course," she said. "It seems that one
of Dad's clients owed him a good deal of money, and although he, the
client, that is, had plenty of money, it was all tied up in such a way
that he couldn't get hold of it right away, so he offered to give Dad
his almost new racing car in exchange. And," here Betty came to the most
wonderful part of her story, "since mother doesn't care for that type of
car--he gave it to me!"
"Betty, how mar-ve-lous!" breathed Mollie, while Amy and Grace just
stared.
"Can we see it? Have you got it at home?" asked Amy, after a few minutes
during which the girls had been getting used to the wonderful idea of
Betty with a machine, and a racing machine at that.
"Oh, Betty, lead us to it," added Mollie yearningly.
"I don't know whether it's come yet or not," explained the Little
Captain, as the girls threw aside dust rags and gingham aprons
preparatory to a concerted rush upon the new acquisition. "That's why I
didn't tell you about it sooner. I was going to surprise you by taking
you to it," she added, as they set off at a walk that was almost a run
for the pretty Nelson house; "but when Mollie spoke about another car I
just couldn't hold back any longer. Oh dear, I hope it has come!"
"Won't it be fun?" cried Mollie joyfully, executing a little
irrepressible skip in her delight. "You can run it, Betty, of course,
and take Grace or Amy with you while our car comes behind--"
"With the luggage," finished Betty wickedly.
"Well you needn't be so conceited," retorted Mollie, her nose in the
air, while Betty looked innocent.
"Wasn't that what you were going to say?" she inquired.
However, there was no time for more conversation, for at that moment
they turned a corner, bringing Betty's house to sight, and what should
be going up the drive at that particular and ecstatic moment but the
graceful, low-bodied racer itself!
With a shout the girls rushed forward. They overtook the driver as he
slowed to a stop, and fairly danced with impatience while the man pushed
up his goggles, took off his hat, wiped his perspiring forehead, and
slowly turned to smile at them.
"This is where Mr. Nelson lives, isn't it?" he asked. "Mr. Todd asked me
to bring the car around--"
"Yes, yes, we know all about it," interrupted Betty, then added with a
smile, as the man looked surprised: "I suppose you think I'm terribly
impatient, but, you see, the car is mine, and I can't wait to try it
out."
The man whistled and descended with alacrity. The girls noticed rather
absentmindedly that he was a rather good looking young fellow, probably
one of the young men from Mr. Todd's office who had volunteered to run
this errand for him.
"Well, I don't blame you a bit for being in a hurry," he said heartily,
eyeing the beautiful lines of the car with approval. "She sure is a
great little machine! You are Miss Nelson, I suppose?" he added, turning
to Betty. "You see," with evident embarrassment, "I promised to deliver
the car in person to Mr. Nelson--"
"Here he is, so there ought to be no difficulty about that," said a
jovial voice, and they turned to find Mr. Nelson himself coming toward
them. "Good afternoon, Mr. Jameson. How do you like my new acquisition?
A beauty is it not?"
"I say so!" agreed the young fellow, and after a few moments of general
conversation, Mr. Nelson led him off toward the house, leaving the girls
to themselves. And that, as Mollie afterward remarked, "was just the
most beautiful thing he could have done!"
Before they had turned the corner of the house, Betty had clambered in
behind the steering wheel and was bidding the girls follow.
In their excitement they all tried to climb in, forgetting that a car
designed to seat two people cannot by any stretch of imagination
accommodate four. Then suddenly realizing what an absurd picture they
must be making, they began to laugh.
"Well, now what are we going to do?" wailed Mollie. "We can't all go at
once."
"Of course you can," cried Betty busily examining her treasure, touching
a lever here, a button there, with loving fingers. "What, may I ask, is
the matter with the running boards?"
"Betty, you don't mean--"
"Yes, I do," firmly.
"But we can't--"
"Well, then I'll have to take one at a time," decided Betty, tooting the
horn experimentally. "Come on--who goes first?"
"Oh, come on, we'll all go," cried Mollie dancing with impatience. "You
get in beside Betty, Grace, since you're afraid of the running board,
and Amy and I'll hang on somewhere. Come on, Amy. Be a sport, old girl."
Amy wavered for a moment, but the challenge was too much for her, and
she nodded her head in assent.
"Thank goodness I can only die once," was her cheerful comment.
So Grace climbed in beside the Little Captain, while Amy and Mollie
scrambled up on the running boards and clung to the sides of the car.
Then Betty tooted the horn triumphantly and began slowly to back down
the drive.
"I don't know about this," she remarked, as the car made rather
zigzagging work of it. "I've driven mostly on a straight road, you know,
and I'm not very expert, even if I do know all about a motor boat."
"So we see," commented Mollie wickedly, as Betty nearly backed into a
flower bed at one side of the drive.
"Don't you think we'd better get off?" asked Amy. "Till you turn into
the road, anyway, Betty?" she added.
"Don't you dare," cried Betty, giving the wheel a nervous little twist
that caused Amy to groan and clutch the side of the car tighter. "If you
make me stop now, I'll never get started again. There!" as the car slid
into the roadway, hesitated a moment, then without a jar or a jerk,
glided swiftly along the smooth road, gathering headway as it went. "Now
we're all right."
"That was pretty work, Betty," complimented Mollie, who, as an old and
experienced driver, felt capable of pronouncing judgment. "Now let's see
what this little car will do."
"Not too fast," begged Amy, as Betty slid into high gear. "Remember
we're not used to this kind of traveling, and we're apt to find
ourselves sitting in the road if you're not careful."
"Have you chosen your spot?" asked Betty, her eyes twinkling.
"Just the same, it might have been a good idea to have brought some
cushions along," said Mollie ruefully. "We might have strapped them on
and used them the way you do life savers--in case of emergency."
"My, you must be having a wonderful time," drawled Grace. "Have some
candy Mollie--it may help your courage."
"My courage doesn't need any help, thank you," snapped Mollie, adding
wickedly: "Just for that we ought to make you ride out here."
"Goodness, don't!" cried Betty, as she swung the car around a corner and
started once more toward home. "The punishment wouldn't fit the crime,
Mollie. Besides, we'll be back in a few minutes. Girls, she runs like a
dream!"
"She's a wonder," agreed Mollie. "I guess there's just about no limit to
the speed she's capable of."
"Do you want me to let her out?" queried Betty wickedly, but both Amy
and Mollie protested vehemently.
"Some other time," said Mollie, "when we're not hanging on by our
eyelids!"
A few minutes more, and they were again turning into the Nelson drive,
which, by the way, Betty took much more expertly this time. As the car
slowed, Amy and Mollie dropped off and Amy opened the door for Lady
Grace, who descended slowly.
"Well, how do you like it?" cried Betty, jumping out in her turn and
regarding her new possession with shining eyes. "Do you think she'll
do?"
"Do!" they cried, and Mollie added, patting the smooth side of the car
with admiring fingers:
"She's a wonder, Betty--as Roy would say, 'a perfect pippin.' Good-bye,"
she added suddenly, starting down the drive.
"Where are you going?" cried Betty, as they looked after her surprised.
"Home," she answered, adding with a chuckle: "I've got to finish
cleaning my old car. It's poor old nose must be terribly out of joint."