“Because it was like you. It carried your atmosphere. Some day she will suddenly notice that and ask you about the basket,” Lucy sagely prophesied. “She seems to be a shrewd old person.”
“She is.” Marjorie smiled at the candid criticism. She wondered if Miss Susanna had not been in her youth a trifle like Lucy.
“Now for what Helen and I saw and heard this afternoon,” declared Jerry gleefully. The first interest in Marjorie’s visit to Hamilton Arms had abated.
“Oh, a horrible tale I have to tell,
Of the terrible fate that once befell
A couple of students who resided
In the very same neighborhood that I did,”
chanted Helen. “You tell it, Jeremiah. You can make it funnier than I can.”
“Helen and I started out with the new car as proudly as you please this afternoon,” began Jerry with a reminiscent chuckle. “We hadn’t gone much further than Hamilton Arms when whiz, bing, buzz! Along came that Miss Walbert in her blue and buff car and nearly bumped into us. She came up from behind and her car just missed scraping against Helen’s. Leslie Cairns was with her. We never said a word, but I heard Miss Cairns raise her voice. I think she gave Miss Walbert a call down.”
“There was no excuse for her, except that she never seems to pay any particular attention to anyone’s car but her own,” put in Helen. “I have heard complaint of her from I don’t remember how many girls who own cars. Occasionally you will find a girl who can’t learn to drive a car. She belongs in that class. Excuse me for butting in. Proceed, Jeremiah.”
“That’s all of the prologue,” Jerry continued. “Now comes the first act. We went on to town, drove around a little, did our errands, had ice cream at the Lotus and started back highly pleased with ourselves. You know that place just before you leave the town where the turn into Hamilton Highway is made? There is a grocery store and a garage on one side of the road and a hotel on the other. Just before we came to that point Miss Walbert and her car whizzed by us again. She took that corner with a lurch. When we struck the place a minute later we saw something had happened. She had actually scraped the side of one of those taxis that run between town and the college. It was coming from the college, I suppose. Anyway, Miss Cairns and she were both out of their car and so was the taxi driver. Maybe he wasn’t giving those two a call down!”
Jerry and Helen exchanged joyful smiles at the recollection of the reckless couple’s discomfiture.
“Helen drove very slowly past them. We wanted to hear what the man was saying,” Jerry continued. “He was laying down the law to them to beat the band. We heard Leslie Cairns say, ‘Do you know to whom you are talking?’ He shouted out, ‘Yes; to a simpleton of a girl who don’t know no more about drivin’ than a goose. I seen you drive your own car, lady, an’ I never had no trouble with you. Your friend, there, is the limit. You’re runnin’ chances of landin’ in the hospital or worse when you go ridin’ with her.’ Leslie Cairns was furious. I could tell that by her expression. Miss Walbert fairly shrieked something at him. She was mad as hops, too. We had passed them by that time so we couldn’t catch what she was saying. There was quite a crowd around them, mostly men and youngsters.”