“Look where you’re goin’ or get off the road!” bawled the man after it. His face was scarlet with anger, he turned in his seat, addressing his fares. “That blue car near smashed us,” he growled. “The young lady that drives it had better quit and give somebody else the wheel. This is the third time she near put my cab on the blink. She can’t drive for sour apples. I wisht, if you knew her, you’d tell her she’s gotta quit it. I don’t own this cab. I don’t wanta get mixed up in no smash-up. If she does it again I’ll go up to the college boss and report that car.”
“Neither of us know her well enough to give her your message,” Marjorie smiled faintly, as she pictured herself giving the irate driver’s warning to Elizabeth Walbert. She had recognized the girl at the wheel as the blue and buff car had passed her.
“I’ll stop her myself and tell her where she gets off at,” threatened the man. “I ain’t afraida her.”
“I think that would be a very good idea,” calmly agreed Marjorie. “There is no reason why you should not rebuke her for her recklessness. She was at fault; not you.”
“Do you imagine he really would report Miss Walbert to Doctor Matthews,” inquired Robin in discreetly lowered tones, as the driver resumed attention at the wheel.
“He might. He would be more likely to do his talking to her,” was Marjorie’s opinion. “I tried to encourage him in that idea. A report of that kind to Dr. Matthews might result in the banning of cars at Hamilton.”
“Did you hear last year, at the time Katherine was hurt, that Miss Cairns received a summons from Doctor Matthews? I was told that he gave her a severe lecture on reckless driving. She told some of the Sans and it came to Portia and I in a round-about way.”
“I believe it to be true.” Marjorie hesitated, then continued frankly. “Katherine did not report her.”
Unbound by any promise of secrecy to any person, Marjorie acquainted Robin with the way the report of the accident had been put before the president. She and her chums had heard the story from Lillian Wenderblatt, who had so ardently urged her father to take up the cudgels for Katherine directly after the accident.
“Lillian explained to her father that Katherine utterly refused to take the matter up. He reported it to the doctor of his own accord, saying that Katherine wished the affair closed. So Doctor Matthews didn’t send for her at all. While he never referred to the subject afterward to Professor Wenderblatt, he said at the time of their talk that he would send Miss Cairns a summons to his office. Lillian’s father said the doctor’s word was equivalent to the summons. So I believe she received one. None of us who are Kathie’s close friends ever mentioned it to others. Lillian told no one but us. She did not ask us to keep it a secret. We simply did not talk about it. That’s why I felt free to tell you, since you asked me a direct question.”