Inwardly I was wondering whether by any chance freak of fancy she could have taken a tentative interest in me. While there is life—you know!
Alas, they beat us and for awhile actually disappeared because of a too rough stretch at one point and then, as I had given up all hope of seeing them any more, there they were, just a little ahead of us, in the midst of a most beatific landscape; and they were loitering—yes, they were!—people can loiter, even in motors.
My mind was full of all the possibilities of a gay, cheerful flirtation. Whose wouldn’t be, on a summery evening like this, with a car full of girls and one bolder and prettier than the others, smiling back at you. The whole atmosphere was one of romance. It was after four now, with that rather restful holiday feeling that comes into the air of a Saturday afternoon when every laborer and rich man is deciding to knock off for the day and “call it a day,” as they express it, and you are wondering why there is any need to hurry over anything. The sky was so blue, the sun so warm. If you had been there you would have voted to sit on the grass of one of these lovely slopes and talk things over. I am sure you would.
Alas, for some distance now we had been encountering signs indicating that a place called Hornell was near and not on our route. It was off to the left or south and we were headed north, Canaseraga-ward. If our car turned north at the critical juncture of the dividing roads, would they miss us if we did not follow them and turn back, or was it not our duty to get the lead and show them which way we were going, or failing that, follow them into Hornell for a bit of food or something? I began to puzzle.
“How about Hornell, for dinner?” I suggested mildly. “I see that these signs indicate a place of about ten thousand.”
“What’s got into you?” exclaimed my host. “Didn’t you just eat eight bananas?”
“Oh, I know; but bananas, in this air——”
“But it isn’t any more than four thirty. It would only be five by the time we got there. I thought you wanted to see the falls yet tonight—and Warsaw?”
“I did—only—you know how beautiful falls are likely to be in the morning——”
“Oh, of course, I see—only—but, seriously, do you think we’d better? It might turn out all right, but again, there are three of them, and two of them are not very good looking and we’re only two actually.”