“I am played out,” she said.
“I wouldn’t think of allowing either of you young ladies to start on another tramp,” put in Dr. Hume. “I am too good a doctor for that. You must stay right here and rest and I’ll start back. I may meet the whole party any time, now.”
Billie and Nancy, therefore, settled themselves to rest on two benches near the lake while the good doctor trudged off along the dusty road.
In the meantime, Mary, who had more than overtaxed her strength that day, gave Percy and Elinor a bad fright by toppling over in a faint. They brought her to with water which Percy carried from a brook in his hat, and then carried her into the wood a bit where she could lie on the pine needles and rest her head in Elinor’s lap. But Percy hurried back to the road to keep watch, and seeing a motor car broken down in the distance hastened to catch up with it. It was a strange car, however, and the chauffeur had not seen the “Comet.”
And all this while, Ben and Miss Campbell, having waited an incalculable time at the second bridge, had gone on for half a mile. Few people can stand the test of being kept waiting. Their patience may be inexhaustible but their judgments are apt to take a bad twist and bring them right about face in the wrong direction.
It is true that Ben had yielded to Miss Campbell in going beyond the supposed meeting place, and now to make matters worse, the “Comet” came to an inexplicable standstill. Poor Ben, with small knowledge of what to do, began a long and wearisome investigation of unfamiliar machinery.
There was something of the dumb driven animal in Ben when he entered unfamiliar territory, and his slow plodding methods had been known to irritate Miss Campbell profoundly.
And now, one more separation remained to complete the disbandment of this innocent party of pleasure. Ben, shamefaced and very humble, was obliged to confess to Miss Campbell that he could not locate the trouble with the “Comet.” Deeply he regretted his inefficiency, but there was nothing to do but give up.
“I’m thinking,” he said, “that maybe I had better walk back a little ways and see if the others aren’t coming up behind us.”
“Very well,” answered Miss Campbell with dignity. “You may go. I suppose nobody would wish to harm an old woman.”