“Like enough,” returned Frank, with twinkling eyes. “This Polktown place is such a wicked and reckless town. Wait till my sister sees it! She will want to pack up and leave after the first day. In fact, I tell her she’ll never unpack her trunk when she once sees the place.”
“Oh! have you a sister? And is she coming here?” cried Janice eagerly.
“So she says. Annette has just been ‘finished’ (Frank made a little grimace over the word) at a fancy boarding school. We’re orphans, you know. She is determined to come here and live with me. She’s several years younger than I am; but she feels it her sisterly duty to oversee my bachelor existence.”
“You’ll love to have her with you,” Janice said confidently.
“Oh, Annette’s a good kid,” said the civil engineer carelessly. “But she’ll be bored to death here in a week, and will go down to our relatives in New York. She was not made for a rural life, I assure you.”
“And you do not take much delight in country places, either?” suggested Janice slily. “You look down upon our simple pleasures.”
“Well, if the ‘simple pleasures’ you speak of include driving a nice little car like this,” laughed Frank Bowman, “I don’t think there is much to complain of.”
After a while he added: “I shan’t have much idle time on my hands. I am laying out the route for the new branch of the V. C., you know. And when my reports are ratified at headquarters, I hope to go ahead and build the bridges and trestles necessary to bring the line into Polktown.
“It will be something of a job, and I shall be around Polktown for a long time. I thought it would be ‘poky,’ like its name,” and Bowman laughed. “But I find there are some very interesting people here.” He looked sideways at Janice. “Surely this beautiful car is an interest I did not expect. You must let me teach you what I know about running it,” he reiterated.
“Thank you,” said Janice demurely. “If Aunt ’Mira is willing, you may. And I am grateful enough for your driving us home, I assure you!”