of the two runabouts a start. For, in spite of their small size and
less power the runabouts were speedy cars. It seemed as if Walter
did not want to take the obviously fair advantage due him.

"Oh, no," declared Cora. "We'll let you handicap us all you wish.
We are willing to test the Whirlwind on its merits."

"I should think so," sneered Ida, and then she turned disdainfully
away, as if the landscape held more of interest for her than did the
details of a race.

"Who is that forward girl?" asked quiet Mary of Bess.

"Ida Giles," was the whispered reply.

"She looked at me as if I did not belong in a motor car," went on
the little milliner, with that quick perception acquired by business
experience.

"Well, she doesn't belong in the one she's in," retorted Bess
kindly. "I guess you imagine she meant something like that. Ida is
not really mean. She is merely thoughtless."

"That's the very meanest kind of meanness," insisted Mary, "for,
when folks do a thing through thoughtlessness they do not know
enough to be careful next time."

Bess smiled to assure Mary that the milliner's model was on an equal
footing with the girls in the Whirlwind, at all events.