The Automobile Girls at Washington eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 206 pages of information about The Automobile Girls at Washington.

The Automobile Girls at Washington eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 206 pages of information about The Automobile Girls at Washington.

“I know it is,” Bab agreed.  “And that is why I am so frightened.  Don’t you think you could take me to look for them?  Please do, Mr. Meyers.”

The ill-bred fellow shrugged his shoulders.  “What do you take me for, Miss Thurston?  I am not going to let my rarebit get cold.  There is nothing the matter with your friends.  They are likely to be along at any minute.”

Barbara did not know what to do.  Mr. Hamlin had not yet come in.  Yet she must find out what had happened to Ruth, Mollie and Grace.  Bab once thought of starting out alone and on foot, back up the long country road, but she gave up the idea as sheer foolishness.

At that moment the grandfather’s clock in the hall chimed midnight.  Almost two hours had passed since the two automobiles had entered Alexandria, and the little town was only eight miles from Washington.

Bab felt she was going to cry before Harriet’s guests.  She slipped her hand in her pocket to find her handkerchief.  As she silently pressed her handkerchief against her trembling lips she smelt a delicate perfume.  Something fresh and cool and aromatic touched her face.  It was the tiny rose-bud Peter Dillon had presented to her in the garden!

Now Bab had determined never to ask Peter to do her a favor.  She felt that, once she returned his pledge to him, he had the same right to ask a favor of her.  But what could Barbara do?  Her beloved sister and friends had certainly come to grief somewhere.  And Bab was helpless to find them alone.

“Mr. Dillon,” Bab spoke under her breath, just showing her handkerchief to him with the rose-bud crushed between its damp folds, “won’t you help me to find Ruth?” Bab only glanced at the flower with a shy smile.  But Peter saw it.

He jumped to his feet, his face flushing.

“Put the flower back, Miss Thurston,” he said quietly to Barbara.  “You do not need to ask me to help you look for your friends as a favor to you.  I am ashamed of myself to have waited until you asked me.  Harriet, I am going back to look for your guests.”

Harriet, who was also feeling uneasy without being willing to confess it, cheerfully agreed.

“I am going to take your car, Meyers,” declared Peter Dillon without saying so much as by your leave.

Bab and Peter Dillon hurried out to the waiting automobile.  Both stopped only to take coats and caps from the rack in the hall.

If Peter Dillon wished to make a friend of Barbara Thurston, his prompt response to her plea for help came nearer accomplishing it than anything else in the world.  When Peter refused Bab’s proffered rose-bud she then determined to do him any favor that she could whenever he might desire to ask it of her.

CHAPTER VII

MOLLIE’S TEMPTATION

The next morning the “Automobile Girls” were sitting in the library of Mr. Hamlin’s home.  Ruth, Mollie and Grace were there, for Peter and Bab had secured their release from the Alexandria jail.

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The Automobile Girls at Washington from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.