With the car in the garage, the boys went downtown again and bought several cans of automobile paint. And, for the rest of the week, they busied themselves transforming the automobile into "a thing of beauty and a joy forever."
Their parents were puzzled, but said nothing. Aunt Gertrude was frankly indignant and at mealtimes made many veiled references to the luxury-loving tendencies of modern youth.
"It's not enough for them to have motorcycles and a motorboat, but now they must have an automobile!" she sniffed. "And it's not enough for them to buy an ordinary flivver—they must have a car that a millionaire would be proud to own."
Secretly, the boys considered this a compliment. They felt that their aunt would be vastly surprised if she knew the low price they had paid.
"Wait till she sees it when we have it painted," said Frank.
Their chums, too, were unable to imagine what had possessed the Hardy boys to purchase a so large and expensive-looking car. Frank and Joe did not enlighten them. They had bought the car for a certain purpose and they were afraid that if they confided in any one, their plans might leak out. So they busied themselves with painting the new car, and said nothing of their intentions to any one, not even to Chet Morton.
At last the work was finished.
On Friday night after school Frank applied the last dab of paint, and the brothers stood back to survey their handiwork.
"She's a beauty!" declared Joe.
"I'll tell the world!"