"Yes," said Cora politely. "We had no idea of traveling alone like this, but our chaperon——"
"Well, you've got one now," interrupted the man nicely, noticing Cora's embarrassment. "I often do it for Betty—she's only got me."
There was a catch in his voice this time, and while the three girls instantly felt that "the bars were down again," and that they really did have a chaperon in the person of this delightful gentleman, still it would have seemed rude to break the effect of his last remark.
"We are getting her up, all right," he said, referring to towing the Whirlwind. "Never saw the like of Benson."
"Isn't it splendid?" exclaimed Cora, looking back into the darkness and thus discerning the lamps of her car following. "It is a dreadful thing to be stalled."
"Can't be beat," agreed Mr. Rand. "We get it once in a while, though
Benson is a wonder—knows when to stop without getting a blow-out."
"That's what we had," said Cora, "a blow-out."
"Girls speeding!" and he slapped his knees in good nature. "Now, Betty thinks she can't go unless the engine stutters, as she calls it. I declare, girls are worse than men these days! Speeding!"
Cora tried to tell something of the circumstances responsible for her speed, but he would take no excuse—it was ordinary speed, just like Betty's, he declared.
"And you lost your chaperon?" He said this with a delightful chuckle, evidently relishing the circumstances that threw the interesting young party into his company.