"Hold on! hold on! bear up! What's the matter?"
"I forgot about poor Daddy's check. Of course—that's the way out."
"What's the way out?" he demanded.
"Haven't you heard about poor little Lottie?"
"What's happened to her?" he asked, anxiously.
She told him swiftly. Then stopped. He demanded:
"What's that got to do with the auto, Janice?"
"Don't you see it has everything to do with it, Nelson?" she returned, gravely. "Of course, I could not buy a car when Lottie needs some of my money so much. She shall start for Boston just as soon as she is well enough to go—and of course Miss 'Rill will go with her. Hopewell cannot leave the store. Lottie shall go to the specialist, Nelson."
For a minute the school-teacher was silent. He looked at the girl's shining, earnest face in a way she had never noticed before. But at last he only smiled a little queerly, and said:
"Why—Well, Janice Day, there's no odor of gasoline about that!"