“I didn’t stop; she stopped herself. Your friend Camilla is not in such haste to get home as you are, and she wants to see the moonlight on the sea once again.”
“Nonsense! Didn’t you truly stop the car?”
“No, truly I didn’t, and, what’s more, I can’t make it go on.”
“Then something has happened!”
“Right-o! How clever of you to guess that! But it’s your car, and you know its tricks and its manners. What does it mean when she stops like this, gently but firmly?”
“I don’t know;” and Patty looked blankly bewildered. “She’s never done such a thing before. Of course something must be out of order,—but I can’t think what. The tires are all right.”
“Yes, of course; it isn’t a puncture. But I can’t think myself what it can be. Well, I’ll have to overhaul the engine and see what I can see.”
Van Reypen got out and began to investigate, but he could find nothing wrong in any part. “Has the charge given out?” he asked.
“No, the batteries are all right. It was fully charged this morning, and I used it very little to-day. She’s good for eighty or ninety miles easily, and I haven’t run twenty to-day.”
“Then, I give it up. I do know something about cars, but I’m much more experienced with the gasoline motors. However, this is so beautifully made, and yet so really simple of construction, that I feel I ought to understand it. You get out, and take a look.”