Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-03-28
How the Auto
Did It
By IRVING CIR RANE
Copyright, 1905, by P c. Eastment

come into the city from their country |
home TO do some shopping, and because |
the cabman overcharged them and be- |
cause Maize turned indignant and said |
she would go to a police station before |
she would submit to be swindled a |
crowd began to gather
Harry Finchly was In the crowd. He
promptly espcused the cause Of the
women and was struck by cabby's
whip. In return he pulled cabby off
the box and flung him about in the
dust until the man looked like bundle
of lost rags. Then, no policeman hav-
ing appeared to interfere with the nat
ural course of events, the women were
escorted to Il hotel.
Cards were exchanged and thanks
returned, and "all's well that ends
well" would have been the finish had
not young Mr. Finchly decided that
Miss Maize was an extremely fine look
ing girl 1t had been at least year
since he had met her equal Within
two hours he was longing for another
look into her brown eyes and recalling
WlIU SdllSldCllOl W nat q NNtllhi VI nan
she had. how white and even were her
teeth and what cute dimple orna-
mented her chin. At the end of twen-
ty-four hours romance and love were
at work
OF course Harry had been invited to
call If he ever found himself in West
chester county Miss Maize, who did
20 e. wall a 4
to the cabman. couldn't do less than
issue this invitation. but she hadn't
the least idea that her rescuer would
ever take the trouble to travel their
way. \ surprise was IN store 1Of ner.
He made a call within a week, and he
took pains to thoroughly identify him
self
His trip into the country was made
In his automobile, and it soon became a
regular thing for him to be seen skim
ming over the roads once a week. Mr..
Jefferson liked him. Mrs. Jefferson
thought he was a very proper man in
deed, and MaZie-well, she wasn't tell
Ing her thoughts, but if they hadn't
favored the young man in general
way he would have found her confined
TO her room with n convenient head
ache
An acquaintance begun in April had
progressed to September without a
thing to mar it, 1t had ripened into
friendship at least, and there We're
signs that it was nearing the critical
point Then one day Harry Finchly
did an unwise thing. In his guileless
and innocent way he mentioned that
he had given a little dinner to a little
! actress the night before. In an instant
the brown eyes that had been full OF
laughter began to harden.
He saw that he had made a mistake,
/ and he began to hedge-that is he
explained that the mother of the little
! actress was at the dinner. The point OF
| Miss MaZie's nose seemed to turn up.
Mr. Finchly further explained that
two aunts and two uncles of the ac-
| tress were also at dinner. Half a min
ute later he was protesting that he
would never have given the dinner but
! for the fact that the little actress
! seemed TO be hungry and he felt sorry
for her 1t had not -hean mnch of q
| dinner anyhow. He had sat at one
end of the dining room and the actress
at the other and they had chewed
! olives and drunk poor claret and con-
| fined their conversation to the weather.
In fact Mr. Finchly did all possible
| In the next few minutes TO repair his
blunder. He even went the length Of
saying that the little actress had a
| cast in one eye and was probably
| twenty years older than she claimed
tn he but when he had finished and
| couIu protest no more MISS MszIe
asked to be excused for moment,
and he felt a chill around his heart.
! The mother came into the parlor to
entertain him, and, although both
made great effort. conversation
| dragged.
When Miss Maize walked out of the
| parlor she simply wanted to be alone
for ten minutes to recover her self
| possession. She was furious at the lit
tie actress, at Mr.. Finchly and at her
SELF but she didn't want the second
] person mentioned to even suspect such
a state Of affairs She would smooth
the lines out of her face, coax back a
smile and return to him and say that
she always lad admired little ac-
| tresses!
Her intentions were good and polite
| and diplomatic, but her temper got the
best of her Under the big walnut tree
at the gate stood Mr.. Finchly's auto.
He always acted as his own chauffeur.
Twenty times over he had taken the
| Jeffersons out for q spin, and Miss
Maize had entertained an idea for
some time that she knew all about the
running of the machine.
! As she walked about to calm her
self she caught sight of the auto, and
there was mischief in her eyes as she
ran toward it and climbed in She
actually did know enough to start the
! thing and get headed down the broad
| turnpike Perhaps she knew enough
to stop and turn, but the sensation Of
! being alone gave her a helpless feel
| ing she put on speed instead of di-
minishlng it, and in the course of FIVE
! minutes she was whiZZing down that
old colonial COW trail in way that
made the telephone poles sit up and
wonder.
The first living thing met was q
| trusting and confidng calf that had
escaped from a field and was wander
! Ing at large to broaden its mind.
When 1t san cloud of dust coming
down the pike, it trusted that wind
fall Of rich green grass was TO be had
Tor the picking uD. 1t advanced t6
Jne mluuie OIL the rOau WIN eyes DulB
Ing out and ten seconds later woke UP
in far distant spot and in mussed
up condition. Miss Maize had tn,
steering wheel in hand. In fact, she
was frozen to il. She could hold thu
old machine reasonably straight in the
middle of the road, but she was help
less beyond that
Tho payt incident was a load Of hay