Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-03

Your very sincere and excited friend,
JACK WINSTON.
Hotel de Londres. Ambrose.
December J.
Ny dear Monte:
The plot thickens. She Ia superb. But
things are happening which l didn't foresee,
and which l don't like l have to suppress
q Worm, and suppressed he shall be. l am
writing this letter to you in my bed room.
1t Is in the morning and lovely might
more like spring than winter. Through
my wide-Open window the only sound that
comes in is the tapping of the lazy Loire
against the piers of the great stone bridge.
/ have not been to bed: shall not go to
bed. for have something to do when dawn
begins. Though have worked hard today,
am not tired: am too excited for fatigue.
But l must give you sketch of what has
happened during the last few days. 1t is
comfort and a pleasure to me to be able
to unburden myself to your sympathetic
heart. You will read what l write with
patience. l know. and with interest. l nope.
That you will often smile. l am sure.
I sent you line from Orleans, telling you
that had got myself engaged as chauffeur
to Miss Molly Randolph at Suresnes. We'll,
the garage man and l managed to fit the
new crank into my lovely employers abom-
Unable car. and about or in the after
noon we were ready to take the road. AS
tucked the rug round the ladies Miss Ran
dolph threw me an appealing look MY
aunt" she said. declares that 1t is quite
useless to go on as she Is sure we snail
never get anywhere. But 1t Is a good car
isn't it, Brown. and we shall get to Tours,
shan't we?'' ITS great car. miss, l
said quite truthfuMy and very heartily.
With this car I'd guarantee to take you
comfortably all round Europe" Heaven
knows that this boast was the child OF
hope rather than experience but 1t would
have been too maddening to have the whole
thing knocked on the head at the begin
ming by the fears Of a timorous elderly
lady. You hear. Aunt Mary what Brown
says" said the girl. with the air Of one
who brings an argument to close, and 1
hastened to start the car.
BY Jove! The compression was strong.
l wasn't prepared for it after the simple
twist of the hand. which is all that is nee
essary to start the Napier and the recoil
Of the starting handle nearly broke my
wrist But got the engine going with the
second try, jumped to my place in front OF
the ladies (you understand that 1t is u
phaeton- seated carl. and started very gin
customed to belt-driven Benz (you re-
member my little three and one-haf horse
power "hafpenny Benz as came to call
it,, that had the ordinary fast and loose
pulleys, while this German monstrosity is
driven by jockey pulley, an appliance
fiendishly contrived. as it seemed to ME,
especially for breaking belts quickly.
The car, too. is steered by tiller worked
with the left hand. and there are SO
many different levers to manipulate that to
drive the thing properly one ought to be a
modern Briareus
1 must say though, that the thing has
power. 1t BUNDLED in excellent style on
the second speed up the long hill of Sures-
mes. but when we got to the level and
changed speeds. put the jockey on trifie
too quickly, and snick went the belt. l
was awfully anxious that my new mistress
shouldn't think me q duffer, that she
shouldn't lose confidence in her car and
me, and determined to bring her tour to an
abrupt end; so as soon as l felt the snap l
turned round, saying it was only broken
belt that could be mended in no time. She
smiled delightfully."-. How nice of you to
take 1t so well,'' she said 'Rattray SEEM
ed to think that when belt broke the end
of the world had come"
Now to mend belt seems the easiest
thing going, and so it is when you merely
have to hammer a fastening through 1t and
turn the ends over. But in this car you
have to make the joint with coils of twist
ed wire Simple as it is to do in work.
shop, this belt-mending is most irritating
affair by the roadside, and when done 1
found by subsequent experiences that the
wires wear through and tear out after less
than a hundred miles.
On this first day, not having the hang of
the job, 1 found it dsgustingly tedious. To
begin with to get at the pulleys l had to
open the back of the car, and that meant
lifting down all the carefully strapped lug
gage and depositing 1t by the roadside.
Then the wire and tools were either in a
cupboard under the floor of the In a
box under the ladies seats, which meant
disturbing them every time one wanted
anything. How different to my beautifully
planned Napier, where every part is easily
accessible.
The mending of that third speed belt
took me half an hour, and after that we
made some progress; but dusk coming on,
suggested to the ladies that as there was
very little fun In travelling in the dark, l
thought they had better stay the night at
Versailles, going on to Orleans the next
day. They agreed
1 had thought out plans for my own
comfort l knew that at some of the
smaller country inns there would be no
rooms for servants and that l should have
to eat with the ladies, which suited me ex-
actly. In the larger towns, rather than
mess with the couriers, Wallets and maids, l
hotel. then quietly go off myself to another
That is what did at Versailles. 1 saw the
ladies into the best hotel in the town.
drove the car into the stable yard and
went out to watch for Almond. He had
followed us warily and had stopped the
Napier in a side street 200 yards away. l
Joined him and we drove to quiet hotel
about quarter OF mile from Miss Ran
changed and dined like prince, instruct
ing Almond to be up at next morning and
thoroughly clean and oil the German car,
making lot of new fastenings in spare
to Orleans with the Napier Thus 1 live
the double life-by day the leather-clad
chauffeur; by night the English gem
tleman travelling on his own car. The plans
seem well laid cover my tracks carefully;
I don't see how detection can come.
With good deal Of inward fear and
trembling l drove the at the next
morning to the door Of Miss Randolph's ho-
tel. She and her masked and goggled aunt
appeared at once and In five minutes the
luggage was strapped on behind.
Now please understand, said the girl,
with a twinkle of merriment in her eyes
that this is to be a pilgrimage, not a me-
teor flight. Even II this cars capable of
racing, which 1 guess it isn't, don't want
to race. 1 just want to glide: want to see
everything; to drink in impressions every
instant"
This suited me exactly. for It gave me a
chance of humoring and studying the I'M
couth thing that was called upon to drive
I had come out to Versailles to avoid the
direct route to Orleans by Etampes which
Is pave nearly all the way, and practically
impossible for automobiles. From Yer
sailles there is a good route by Dourdan
and Angerville, which, II not picturesque,
at least passes through agreeable richly
cultivated country. The road is exceedingly
accidentee on leaving Versailles and /
drove with great care down the dangerous
descent to Chateaufort and also down the
hill at st. Remy, which leads to the valley
of the Yvette. Till beyond Dourdan the
road Is one long switchback, and 1t is but
fair to record that the solid German car
climbed the hills with kind OF numbering
sturdiness much to its credit. At Dourdan