seventy-five to F-- and back. Will you do it? You're not so
horribly busy just now, and Mrs. Lessing and Pauline Hempstead
together ought to make it worth while for you."

This feature of the invitation did not appear to appeal to
Burns, but the sight of the touring car, brave and shining in
russet and brass, plainly did.

"Not that I'd care to drive such a whale for myself, but I
shouldn't mind a run for the fun of trying her out. You say
she's been driven enough to warm up her engines? Suppose we
take her out and let me get the feel of her mouth before
to-morrow?"

"Come on." And they were off.

"For a whale she's a bird," was Burns's paradoxical verdict
two hours later. The "trying out" had merged into a smooth
run of forty-five miles at not anything like the full pace of
which the motor was capable. "Best not to overheat her at
first. Run your first three hundred miles with consideration
for her vital organs - she'll have her wind by that time."

Next morning four women, long-coated, tissue-veiled, watched
the brown beauty roll invitingly up to Macauley's porch steps.

As she crossed the lawn with Winifred, Pauline Hempstead, the
guest of the Chesters, was studying not only the car, but the
undeniably attractive gray-clad figure of the lately-arrived
younger sister of Mrs. Macauley. "Will Red P. look at her