“Please wait here until we come back for you,” Ruth said to her aunt.
Monsieur Duval had now crossed the space intervening between the two tables. He had seated himself next to Miss Sallie. The other two foreigners were moving toward the gate.
Ruth hurried on. She gave her order to the chauffeur. The man was soon cranking up the machine. The four women had taken their seats in the motor car. At this moment one of the strangers approached Mr. Stuart. The other took off his hat and bowed low to the countess. He spoke to her in German, but her reply was given in English. It was very plain. “I do not know you,” she said.
The man spoke again. This time his manner was insolent. Madame de Villiers’s face grew dark with rage.
“Hurry!” called Ruth to her chauffeur. Mr. Stuart sprang into the automobile.
The machine sped on leaving the two strangers standing alone in the road.
“Do not worry, Cousine,” the countess murmured in the course of their ride. “The man who spoke to me made a mistake. You will frighten our friends if you are so angry.”
Madame de Villiers said nothing. But there was fire in her small shining black eyes. Her beaked nose looked as though it might peck at the next offender.
Mr. Stuart and the two girls left the countess and her companion at their villa. The two women were now composed. Indeed, the countess made Ruth and Mollie promise that the “Automobile Girls” would come to see her again the next day.
Mollie and Ruth could not help puzzling over the countess as they rode back to the cocoanut grove. Mr. Stuart kept his own counsel.