Harriet was looking very pale. She had been ill for two days after her unhappy experience.
"What on earth do you mean, Mr. Hamlin?" inquired Grace Carter anxiously, turning to their host.
The other girls smiled, thinking Mr. Hamlin was joking, he had been in such different spirits since Harriet's return home.
"I mean what I say," Mr. Hamlin returned gravely. "The President wishes to see the 'Automobile Girls' in order to thank them for their service to their country." Mr. Hamlin allowed an earnest note to creep into his voice. "The story has not been made public. But I myself told the President of my narrow escape from disgrace, and he desires personally to thank the young girls who saved us. I told him that he might rely on your respecting his invitation."
"Oh, but we can't go, Mr. Hamlin," Mollie expostulated. "Grace and I had nothing to do with saving the papers. It was only Ruth and Bab!"
"It is most unusual to decline an invitation from the President, Mollie," Mr. Hamlin continued. "Only a death in the family is regarded as a reasonable excuse. Now the President most distinctly stated that he desired a visit from the 'Automobile Girls'!"
"United we stand, divided we fall!" Ruth announced. "Bab and I will not stir a single step without Grace and Mollie."
"There is one other person who ought to be included in this visit to the
President," Harriet added, shyly.
"Whom do you mean, my child?" Mr. Hamlin queried.
Harriet hung her proud little head. "I mean Marjorie Moore, Father. I think she did as much as any one by keeping the story out of the papers when it would have meant so much for her to have published it."