The Press., 1907-01-16
How the Auto
Did It
By IRVING CRANE
Copyright. 1905, by P. G. Eastment
By IRVING CRANE

cause Maize turned indignant and sal
she would go to a police station befor
she would submit to be swindled
crowd began to gather. s
; Harry Finchly was in the crowd. h
promptly espoused the cause of tn
women and was struck by cabby'
whip. In return he pulled cabby of
the box and flung him about in tn
dust until the man looked like q bundl
Of lost rags. Then, no policeman hav
ing appeared to interfere with the nat
ural course OF events, the women wer
escorted to a hotel.
Cards were exchanged and thank.
returned, and "alps well that ends
well' would have been the finish hai
not young Mr.. Finchly decided thai
Miss Maize was an extremely fine look
Ing girl. 1t had been at least a veal
since he had met her equal. Within
two hours he was longing for another
look into her brown eyes and recalling
with satisfaction what wealth Of hail
she had, how white and even were hel
teeth and what a cute dimple orna
mented her chin. At the end Of TWEEN
ty-four hours romance and love were
at work.
OF course Harry had been invited to
call II he ever found himself In West.
chester county. Miss Maize, who did
most Of the talking to him as well as
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. A surprise was In store for her.
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 1t soon became q
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 II they hadn't
| favored the young man in a general
way he would have found her confined
to her room with a convenient head
ache
An acquaintance begun In April had
progressed to September without a
thing to mar 1t. It had ripened into
friendship at least, and there were
signs that 1t was nearing the critical
point. Then one day Harry FinchIy
did an unwise thing. In his guileless
and innocent way he mentioned that
he had given 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 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 &C
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 It had not been much 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 aud 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
to be, but when he had finished and
could protest no more Miss Maize
asked to be excused for a moment,
and he felt a chill around his heart.
The mother came into the parlor to
entertain him, and, although both
made a 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
q state Of affairs. She would smooth
the lines oAtsQf her face, coax back
smile and 9return to him and say that
she always had admired little &C.
tresseSl
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
JenersOns out for a spin, and Miss
Maize had entertained an idea for
come 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 az she |
ran toward 1t 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 nut on speed instead Of d.
1t, and In the course OF I'VE
minutes she was whizzing down that
old colonial cow trail in a way that
made the telephone poles sit up and i
wonder.
The first living thing met was
trusting and confding calf that had
escaped from a field and was wander
ng at large to broaden its mind.
When 1t saw q cloud Of dust coming
IH'p rhe pike, it trusted that WIND
all OF rich green grass was to be had
'or the picking up. 1t advanced to
he middle of the road with eyes bulg-
ng out and ten seconds later woke up
n far distant spot and in a mussed
up condition. Miss Maize had the
teering wheel In hand. In fact, she
vas frozen to It. She could hold the
Id machine reasonably straight in the
middle Of the road, but she was help
ess beyond that.
The next Incident was a load Of hay
nth two farmers on top. They were ,
aen who had never harmed a human 8
eing, and they had no idea that any
nman being wanted to harm them. .
Iude was their awakening. They held
he middle 0P tho rood pp~%fI fho~, ON xw