, 1920-09-30
A Man, a Maid
and a Motor
By HART

SOhtiliue oh iLS way Ut III .OO at llpIll,
on a lonely road eight m%iles--if the
blue book is to be believed-from no.
where, there is not much one can do
about 1t except curse the garage at
which the last ~overhauling was done
and do ones hest to repair the ma
chine. But when one is only twenty,
with nc particular knowledge of the
i%ntricacies with which manufacturers
fill the hoods of the motor cars they
put out, the task of repairing may well
be given up as hopeless. So thought
Phyllis Deane as she sat disconsolate-
ly in the seat of her little roadster and
wondered just what she was going to
do about it all. She had reassured
herself that there was plenty of gaso-
line in the tank, so the trouble, what
ever 1t was, involved more than a mere
refllling. Even If / could refill it,"
mourned Phyllis to herself, II just
know I'm out here miles from a ga
rage"
But the prospect of a night spent on
a lonely road in a broken down car,
with no prospect of help eve when
morning came, is enough to make the
stoutest heart quail, so we must not
blame Phyllis If she found herself chok-
ing back something that was suspi-
ciously like a sob. Then she left the
seat, lifted the hood and took another
terrifying conglomeration of wires and
pipes hat confronted her gaze.
"Oh, why didn't 1 take that course
in the motor school while I had the
chance !" walled she. "Or why did /
eve leave Aunt Mary's to drive home
alone when l might have known this
old bus would break down? oh, I'm
the unluckiest girl in the world
what's that?"
'That" was nothing very terrifying,
but to the overweight girl 1t seemed
fraught with approaching doom. 1t
was a clear, masculine. whistle pro-
ceeding out of the %blackness of the
road behind the car. Ahead the front
lights cut a path of radiance that made
the road in the rear seem doubly dark
in comparison. 1t might be a tramp,
thought Phyllis, or a kidnaper, or a
murderer, or almost any n who
would be undesirable to meet at night
on a dark road without an introduce
ton. Instantly she made up her mind.
She would not stay to be murdered.
She would hide and see who the in
truder vas
Suiting the action to the thought h
slipped around the real of the car and
concealed herself behind a friendly
bush, where she could see without be-
ing seen. The whistler approached.
She heard his footsteps come down
the hard-packed road at a brisk gait.
Another moment and he stood beside
the car. The whistle ceased.
Here's luck" she heard him say.
Then In a louder tone: "oh. whoever
owns this carl VIII you give me a
lift dow the road?"
Silence rewarded him. He called
again, with no better result. Then he
walked to the front Of the car. HIS
glance took In h open hood and ne
gave a long, low whistle.
$50 that's It'll" he said aloud, though
to himself. "a breakdown, and they've
left the car and gone on. Well, well, l
wonder who's car 1t Is. / wonder
still wondering. apparently, he stopped
over the hood. Phyllis heard him
fumbling about, then he emerged and
went on a hunt for the tool box. APP
parently his search was rewarded. for
he returned to the engine n she
heard the muffled clink of steel on
steel. He Strengthened with a salts
fed mir and walked to the seat of the
car, but this time his path took him
through the beam of the twin mead
lights and for the first time Phyllis
saw him distinctly.
She saw, not the tattered rogue her
imagination had conjured up, but a
tall, light-haired youth of apparently
about twenty-five, with a clean-cut race
and eye that, though they blinked IN
the white glow, were blue and Jolly.
He was dressed in a tweed coat, loose
ly and comfortably fitting, with knick-
er-bockers of the same material. a
cap and golf stockings and heavy
shoes completed his sartorlal equip
ment. But Phyllis, after the first swift
glance, found herself looking again at
his eyes. She had about decided that
they were nice eyes when he stepped
out of the light and was
swallowed up like a disappearance IN
the moving pictures.
She heard him climb into the sea-
and press the button Of the self-start-
er. There was a grinding then
the motor burst into Its eight-cyiin-
dered song. He throttled 1t down TO
idling speed and she saw the flare OF a
match as he lighted a cigarette. Then
he took hold Of the steering wheei
with one hand and reached orward
with the other. Phyllis knew what
that meant and as the gears slipped
into FIRST speed and the a moved
slowly forward she sprang into the
road full in the glare Of the headlights.
ugton ~ eha cried.