"Why, in his automobile for a ride." Jack gave Carter a reproachful look.
Mrs. Corner shook her head doubtfully. "Do you think it is just the time to give you a treat, Jack?"
Jack looked down a little abashed.
"Do let her go, Mrs. Corner," said Carter eagerly. "It was really her kind-heartedness that made her pitch into the youngster. He wasn't a real hoodlum, either, for he was well-dressed, and I fancy he lives somewhere about here. I'll be very careful of her and won't stay too long if you'll let her go."
Jack raised imploring eyes to her mother's face. To have such a treat possible and not to be allowed to enjoy it was tragic. She went over to her Aunt Helen and whispered: "Please tell her to let me go."
Miss Helen nodded reassuringly. "I don't think it was an ordinary piece of misbehavior, Mary," she remarked. "I must confess that I should have felt much as Jack did under the circumstances, and then, too, we must consider that Jack was the family benefactor, for Li Hung might be sitting there still if she had not come to his rescue, and where would our next meal be?"
"There is something in that," returned Mrs. Corner. "You will not go far, Mr. Barnwell, will you? I may be overcautious, but I don't know yet how expert a chauffeur you may be."
"Oh, I am very careful," Carter assured her. "I expect, or rather I expected to be an engineer, and so of course I know machines and things. I think you can trust me, Mrs. Corner."
Jack was gazing anxiously into her mother's face. All this precaution seemed very unnecessary, she thought. "May I go?" she again asked.
Her mother looked down with a smile at the anxious little face. "Well, yes, you may," she said after a pause which seemed very long to Jack.