“It’s a beautiful morning,” she said, “and I want to take a good, long ride by myself, Jack.  I want to—­think.  I feel that the air will do me more good than anything else.”

Her mother had gone into town, and once his offer was refused, Jack took a book and declared that he was going to try to work off some of his college conditions.  The Robinson girls were at their music lessons, Cora knew, so he would not call for them.  Thus she started off alone.

Down the turnpike she steered the big machine, confident in her ability to manage it.  There were few autos out, and the highway was almost deserted.  Her pretty Shaker hood, which had lately come home from Madam Julia’s, was unbound, and the loose, chiffon strings flew out in the wind like long-legged birds.  Turning into a broad avenue, Cora realized that she was on the road leading to the garage where she had met Paul Hastings, the handsome chauffeur who had given her such valuable information about her car.

“I must see about getting the mud guard fixed,” she reflected, for the temporary brace that Ed had made, though it had kept the affair in place until the day previous had now come loose.  “And this is a good time to have it attended to,” thought the girl.

Paul Hastings was in the little front office.  He smiled pleasantly at the flushed girl as she told her needs, but somehow he seemed dejected—­as if something had happened.  Even Cora, comparative stranger that she was to him, could not help inquiring the cause of his trouble.

“Is—­is there anything the matter?” she asked hesitatingly.

“Oh—­not much.  Only I—­er—­I have just ex experienced quite a loss, and it makes me—­blue.”

“That’s too bad!”

“Yes,” he went on.  “I had an opportunity of getting a first-class position, but another fellow got ahead of me.”

“How’s that?”

’Well, you see, a firm in New City needs a manager.  I have good backing, and was almost certain of the place.  But another fellow had just as good a chance, and it was a question of who got there first.  I was delayed here and missed the only train that would bring me there on time.  He caught it, and is now on his way there.  He’ll get the place and I—­won’t.”

“But why don’t you take a machine and go there?  You can do it as quickly as the train can.”

“Take a machine?” he repeated.  “I wouldn’t dare.  I’d be sure to lose my place here, and might not get the other.  I haven’t a car in the place I would dare risk taking out on the road.  The owners are too particular about them, and I can’t blame them, either.”

Cora thought for a moment.  A daring plan came into her mind.

“Let me take you,” she suggested.

“Oh, indeed, I would not think of such a thing.  I should not have mentioned my troubles to you.  But they were so—­so much to me that I didn’t realize what I was doing.  But let me look at your car.”