“How much do you want for the damage you say we have done your cab?” Leslie had impatiently inquired of the man. “Cut it out, Bess, and get back to your car,” she had ordered in the next breath. “Let me settle this business.”
A momentary hesitation and Elizabeth had obeyed. She could not afford to antagonize Leslie, at present. She had an axe of her own yet to be ground.
“I oughtta have twenty-five dollars. It ain’t my car. Repairin’ comes high.”
“Very good. Here is your money. Wait a minute.” Leslie had extracted the sum from her handbag. With it came a small pad of blank paper and a fountain pen. Then and there she obtained not only a receipt for the money but a statement of release as well. She was well aware that it would not cost twenty-five dollars to repaint the side of the cab scraped by their car, but she preferred the matter summarily closed.
Returning to the car she had said shortly: “I’ll take the wheel.” Elizabeth had resumed the driver’s seat. Nor had she made any move toward relinquishing it.
“You heard what I said, Bess,” she had sharply rebuked. “Either that, or you and I are on the outs for good. You let me drive that car and show you a few things you need badly to know about driving.” Leslie’s lowering face and tense utterance had had its effect. Elizabeth had allowed her to drive back to Hamilton but had sulked all the way to the campus.
At the garage she had unbent a little and inquired how much Leslie had paid the driver. “I’ll return it to you next week,” she had promised.
“Suit yourself about that. I’m in no hurry. I took it upon myself to settle with the idiot. It wouldn’t worry me if you never paid it. I thought it best to pacify him. I don’t care to have him reporting us to Matthews as he threatened to do.” This had been Leslie’s mind on the subject.
“I don’t believe he would ever go near Doctor Matthews. Still you couldn’t afford to risk being reported,” Elizabeth had retorted with special emphasis on the “you.”
To this Leslie had vouchsafed no reply. She had merely stared at her companion in a most disconcerting fashion and walked off and left her. She was thoroughly nettled with Elizabeth for her lack of gratitude. Natalie was right about her it seemed. She was also wondering where the ungrateful sophomore had obtained certain information which she apparently possessed. No one beyond her seven intimates among the Sans knew that she had been reprimanded by President Matthews for the accident to Katherine Langly. To the other members of the club she had intimated that she had adjusted the matter quietly with Katherine.