ud of dust on the Boston Turnpike.
When the first intoxicating joy of speed had spent itself, she found
herself shuddering at the daring turns he made, missing a curb by a
hair's breadth--grazing a trolley by half an inch. Her fears were soon
forgotten.
The hand on the wheel was made of steel, too.
The throbbing demon encased within the hood obeyed his slightest whim.
She glanced at the square, massive jaw with furtive admiration.
Without turning his head he laughed.
"You like it, teacher?"
"I'm in Heaven!"
"You won't worry about church then, will you?"
"Not today."
They stopped at a road-house, and he put in more gasoline, lifted the
casing from the engine, touched each vital part, examined his tires, and
made sure that his machine was at its best.
She watched him with a growing sense of his strength of character, his
poise and executive ability. He was an awkward, stammering boy in the
Library yesterday. Today with this machine in his hand he was the master
of Time and Space.
She yielded herself completely to the delicious sense of his protection.
The extraordinary care he was giving the machine was a plain avowal of
his deep regard for her comfort and happiness. She had been in one or
two moderately moving cars driven by careful chauffeurs through Central
Park. She had always felt on those trips with Jane Anderson like a poor
relation from the country imposing on a rich friend.
This trip was all her own. The car and its master were there solely for
her happiness. Her slightest whim was law for both. It was sweet, this
sense of power. She began to lift her body with a touch of pride.
She laughed now at fears. What nonsense! No Knight of the Age of
Chivalry could treat her with more deference. He had tried already to
get her to stop for a bite of lunch.
"Don't you want a thing to eat?" he persisted.
"Not a thing. I've just had my breakfast. It's only nine o'clock----"
"I know, but we've come thirty miles and the air makes you hungry. We
ought to eat about six good meals a day."
She shook her head.
"No--not yet. I'm too happy with these new wings. I want to fly some
more--come on----"
He lifted his hand in his favorite gesture of obedience.
"'Nuff said--we'll streak it back now by another road, hump it through
town and jump over the Brooklyn Bridge. I'll show you Coney Island and
then I know you'll want a hot dog anyhow."
He crossed the country and darted into Broadway. Be
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