“All right, Ralph,” said Hugh; “I won’t. Barbara,” Hugh leaned over to attract her attention, and Barbara turned a rosy red, “here’s a souvenir of Newport for you. I guess it’s a gift from us all.” He motioned to his friends around the table and handed to Bab a small green velvet box. “For the girl who is always on the watch,” he ended.
Barbara’s eyes were full of tears. They came partly from embarrassment, but most of all from pleasure. Inside the velvet case was a tiny gold watch, set in a circle of small emeralds.
But Mollie was calling Bab to look at her gift. Mrs. Cartwright, who sat next her favorite of the girls, had pinned a little, pearl butterfly in the lace yoke of Mollie’s gown. Ruth and Grace were each rejoicing in their gifts, silver pins representing tennis racquets, their souvenirs of the luncheon and their month’s stay in Newport.
“It has been just too lovely!” said Mollie to Mrs. Post, as she bade her good-night. “Yes, we start for home the first thing in the morning. In a few days there will be no more ‘Automobile Girls,’” she ended with a sigh.
“Oh,” said Ruth, laughing and coming up beside her, “who knows? You never can tell! Good-bye, everyone,” she said, taking hold of Bab’s hand. “We have had the time of our lives, just as we hoped we would. Till we meet again,” she finished with a smile.
The four girls ran down the gangplank and rejoined Miss Sallie.
As many of our readers will guess, the return to Kingsbridge did not bring an end to the adventures of the natural and charming girls in their automobile. Further adventures and a host of new things remain to be told, but these must be deferred for narration in the next volume, which will be entitled, “The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires; or, The Ghost of Lost Man’s Trail.”
[The End]
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY’S