Mr. Lowden then excused himself for a time, and left his wife with Mrs. James. He soon had the car speeding along the road that went to the Corners, and Norma felt she had done her friends a good turn. But she never dreamed that Frances had not mentioned the automobile as a money-maker for that summer.
When the machine came back with the girls and their roll of wire-netting, Frances looked disconsolate. Norma was wondering whether her father had refused her the car for business purposes, and so she stopped planting long enough to join the party on the piazza.
“What do you think, Norma? Dad says I have to be sixteen before I can have a license to drive a jitney. If I drive without one, that old lazy Amity Parsons will arrest me. And if I use someone else’s license, I can be heavily fined. That explodes all my ambition!” exclaimed Frances woefully.
But Janet came to the rescue, as usual. “Say, Mr. Lowden, Frans can drive the car without a license if she has someone in the seat beside her who does have a regular license.”
“Who can I have?” demanded Frances.
“Well, I don’t know! I haven’t thought of that, yet!” admitted Janet.
“I can drive a car, so there is no excuse why I should not be able to secure one,” said Mrs. James thoughtfully.
“The main point is—we’ve got the car here to use for the summer, and the other points can be covered as we reach them,” remarked Janet.
Mr. Lowden laughed again, for all this business ambition was highly amusing to him. But he had no objections to the automobile remaining at Green Hill Farm during his absence in the west, and the girls all breathed easier when they heard his verdict.
“Well, you can argue out the question about a jitney license, but I must go back to my flowers,” said Norma, getting up from the steps and starting for the roundel.