There had been a little friction between Allison and Leslie about the
use of the car. Allison had always been most generous with it until
his sister took up this absurd intimacy with Myrtle Villers. It has
been rather understood between them that Leslie should use the car
afternoons when she wanted it, as Allison was busy with basket-ball
and other things; but several times Allison had objected to his
sister's taking her new friend out, and Leslie told him he was unfair.
After a heated discussion they had left the question still unsettled.
In fact, it did not seem that it could be settled, for Leslie was of
such a nature that great opposition only made her more firm; and Julia
Cloud advised her nephew to say nothing more for a time. Let Leslie
find out for herself the character of the girl she had made her
friend. It was really the only way she would learn not to be carried
away by flattery and high-sounding words. Allison, grumbling a little,
assented; but in his heart he still boiled with rage at the idea of
that girl's winding his sister around her little finger just for the
sake of using the car when she wanted it. It was not, perhaps, all
happening that for two or three days Allison had left the switch-key
where his sister could not find it, and a hot war of words ended in
Leslie's quietly ordering a new switch-key so that such a happening
would be impossible in future, She would have one of her own. A card
had come that very morning from the express office, notifying Leslie
that there was a package there waiting for her; so, when she started
out with Myrtle, she stopped and got it. She tossed it carelessly into
the car with a feeling of satisfaction that now Allison could not
hamper her movements any longer by his carelessness.
"Which way shall we go?" she asked as she always did when taking her
friends out, and Myrtle named a favorite pike where they often drove.
Out upon the smooth, white road they sped, rejoicing in the clear
beauty of the day and in the freedom with which they flew through
space. Myrtle had chosen to sit in the back seat, and lolled happily
among rugs and wraps, keeping a keen eye out on the road ahead and
chattering away like a magpie to Leslie, telling her what a darling
she was--she pronounced it "dolling"--and how this ride was just the
one thing she needed to recuperate from her violent study of the night
before, incident to an examination that morning. Myrtle professed to
be utterly overcome and exhausted by the physical effort of writing
for three whole hours without a let-up. If Leslie could have seen her
meagre paper, through which a much-tortured professor was at that
moment wearily plodding, she would have been astonished. Leslie
herself was keen and thorough in her class work, and had no slightest
conception of what a lazy student could avoid when she set herself to
do so.
Five miles from home two masculine figures came in sight ahead,
strolling leisurely down the road. Any one watching might have seen
Myrtle suddenly straighten up and cast a hasty glance at Leslie. But
Leslie with bright cheeks and shining eyes was forging ahead,
regardless of stray strollers.
At exactly the right moment Myrtle leaned forward, and clutched
Leslie's shoulder excitedly:
"O Leslie! That's my cousin Fred Hicks! And that must be his friend,
Bartram Laws! They're out for a hike. How lucky! Stop a minute,
please; I want to speak to my cousin."
At the same moment the two young men turned, with a well-timed lifting
of surprised hats in response to Myrtle's violent waving and
shouting.
Leslie of course slowed down. She could not carry a girl past her own
cousin when she asked to stop to speak to him; besides, it never
occurred to her not to do so.
Myrtle went through the introductions glibly.
"Mr. Laws, meet my friend Miss Cloud; my cousin, Fred Hicks, Leslie.
Pile in, boys! Isn't this great that we should meet? Out for a hike?
We'll give you a lift. Which way are you going? Fred, you can sit in
front with Leslie. I want Bart back here with me."
Leslie caught her breath in a troubled hesitancy. This wasn't the kind
of thing she had bargained for. It was the sort of thing that her aunt
and brother would object to most strenuously. Yet how could she object
when her guest had asked them? Of course Myrtle didn't realize that it
was not quite the thing for them to be off here in the country
unchaperoned, with two strange young men, though of course they
weren't strangers really, both of them friends of Myrtle's, and one
her cousin. Myrtle could not be expected to think how it would seem to
her.
But the young men were not waiting for Leslie's invitation. They
seemed to feel that their company would be ample compensation for any
objections that might be had. They scrambled in with alacrity.
The color flew into Leslie's cheeks. In her heart she said they were
altogether too "fresh."
"Why, I suppose we can give you a lift for a little way," said Leslie,
trying to sound patronizing. "How far are you going? We turn off here
pretty soon."
"Oh, that's all right," said Cousin Fred easily; "any old road suits
us so it's going in this direction. Want me to take the wheel?"
"No, thank you," said Leslie coldly, "I always drive myself. My
brother doesn't care for me to let other people use the car."
"That's all right; I thought you might be tired, and I'm a great
driver. People trust me that won't trust any one else."
"That's right, Leslie," chimed in Myrtle. "Fred can drive like a
breeze. You ought to see him!"
Leslie said nothing, but dropped in the clutch, and drove on. She was
not prepossessed in Fred Hicks's favor. She let him make all the
remarks, and sat like a slim, straight, little offended goddess. But
Fred Hicks was not disturbed in the least. He started in telling a
story about a trip he took from Washington up to Harrisburg in an
incredibly brief space of time, and he laughed uproariously at all his
own jokes. Leslie was a girl of violent likes and dislikes, and she
took one of them now. She fairly froze Cousin Fred, though he showed
no outward sign of being aware of it.
"Here's a nice road off to the right," he indicated, reaching out a
commanding hand to the wheel suddenly. "Turn here."
Leslie with set lips bore on past the suggested road at high speed.
"Please don't touch my wheel," was all she said, in a haughty little
voice. She was very angry indeed.
They were nearing an old mansion, closed now for the winter, with a
small artificial lake between the grounds and the highway.
Leslie felt a passing wish that she might dump her undesired cargo in
that lake and fly away from them.
"I think you will have to get out at the next crossroads," she said
with more dignity. "I have to go home now."
"Why, Leslie Cloud! You don't any such thing!" broke in Myrtle. "You
told me you could be out till quarter of six. It's only half-past
four! I thought you were a good sport."
"I've changed my mind," said Leslie coldly, bringing the car to a
standstill. "I'm going back right now. Do you and your friend want to
get out here, Mr. Hicks?"
Fred Hicks lolled back in the car, and leered at Leslie.
"Why, no, I can't say I'm particularly anxious to get out, but I think
I'd like to change around a little. If you'll just step over here,
I'll run the car for you, my dear. I don't think Myrtle is ready to go
back yet. How 'bout it, Myrt?" He turned and deliberately winked at
Myrtle, who leaned over with a light laugh, and patted Leslie on the
shoulder.
"There, there, Leslie, don't get up in the air," she soothed, "I'll
explain all about it if you'll just turn around and go up that road
back there. It won't take you much longer, and we'll be back in plenty
of time. The fact is, I had a little plan in the back of my head when
I came out this afternoon; and I want you to help me out. Now be a
good girl and let Fred run the car a little while. He won't do it any
harm, and your brother will never know a thing about it."
Leslie's eyes were flashing, and her head was held haughtily; but she
kept her hands firmly on the wheel.
"Your friends will have to get out, Myrtle," she said coldly. "I can't
help you out in any scheme I don't understand. You'll have to go to
some one else for that kind of help."
Myrtle pouted.
"I must say I don't think you're very nice, Leslie Cloud, speaking in
that way before my friends; but of course you don't understand; I'll
have to tell you. Bart Laws and I are engaged, and we're going to a
town down in the next State to get married. Bart has the license and
the minister, and it's all arranged nicely. His aunt will be there for
a chaperon. If you behave yourself and do as we tell you, the whole
thing will go off quietly and no one will know the difference. You and
I will go back home before dark, and everything will be lovely. You
see, dear, I've been engaged all this time; only I couldn't tell you,
because my guardians don't approve of my getting married until I'm
through college. You didn't understand why I had so much to do with
Rich Price, but he was just a go-between for Bart and me. Now, do you
understand why I wanted you to go this afternoon?"
Myrtle's voice was very soft and insinuating. She had tears always
near the surface for ready use. "You never have been in love, Leslie;
you don't know what it is to be separated from the one who is all the
world to you. Come, now, Leslie; I'll do anything in the world for
you if you'll only help me out now."
"And if I won't?" asked Leslie calmly, deliberately, as if she were
really weighing the question.
"Well, if you won't," put in the person called Fred Hicks, "why, Bart
and I will just fix you up perfectly harmlessly in the back seat
there, where you can't do any damage"--and he put his hand in his
pocket, and brought out the end of an ugly-looking rope--"and then
we'll take charge of this expedition and go on our way. You can take
it or leave it as you please. Shut up there, Myrt; we haven't any more
time to waste. We're behind schedule now."
Leslie's mouth shut in a pretty little tight line, and her eyes got
like two blue sparks, but her voice was cool and steady.
"Well, I _won't_!" she said tensely; and with a sudden motion she
grabbed the switch-key and, springing to her feet, flung it far out
across the road, across a little scuttled canoe that lay at the bank,
and plunk into the water, before the other occupants of the car could
realize what she was doing.
Fred Hicks saw just an instant too late, and sprang for her arm to
stop it, then arose in his seat with curses on his lips, watching the
exact location of the splash and calling to his mate to go out and
fish for it.
Leslie sank back in her seat, tense and white, and both young men
sprang out and rushed to the shore of the little lake, leaving a
stream of unspeakable language behind them. Myrtle began to berate her
friend.
"You little _fool_!" she said. "You think you've stopped us, don't
you? But you'll suffer for this! If you make us late, I'll see that
you don't get back to your blessed home for a whole week; and, when
you do, you won't have such a pretty reputation to go on as you have
now! It won't do a bit of good, either, for those two men can find
that switch-key; or, if they can't, Fred knows how to start a car
without one. You've only made a lot of trouble for yourself, and
that's all the good it will do you. You thought you were smart, but
you're nothing but an ignorant little kid!"
But the ignorant little kid was not listening. With trembling fingers
she was pulling off the wrappings from a small package, and suddenly a
warning whir cut short Myrtle's harangue. She lurched forward, and
tried to pull Leslie's hands away from the wheel.
"Bart! Come quick! She's got another! Hurry, boys!"