or us."

"Good! I'll telephone Mrs. Arnold to-night. To-morrow is Saturday,
half-holiday. We'll take them down to the lake and come home by
moonlight. Oh, Herbert, won't it be lovely?"

"You bet it will," exulted Herbert, as he thought of the Arnolds'
admiring eyes when their car should sweep up to their door.

At three o'clock Saturday afternoon the Wheelers with their two guests
started for the lake. It was a beautiful day. The road was good and
every one was in excellent spirits--that is, every one but the host.
It had come to him suddenly with overwhelming force that he was
responsible not only for the happiness but for the lives of his wife
and their friends. What if something should go wrong?

But nothing did go wrong. He stopped twice, it is true, and examined
carefully his car; but the only result of his search was a plentiful
bedaubing of oil and gasoline on his hands and of roadway dust on his
clothing. He was used to this and did not mind it, however--until he
went in to dinner at the Lakeside House beside the fresh daintiness of
his wife and their friends; then he did mind it.

The ride home was delightful, so the Arnolds said. The Arnolds talked
of it, indeed, to each other, until they fell asleep--but even then
they did not talk of it quite so long as their host worked cleaning up
the car after the trip. Wheeler kept the automobile now in a
neighbor's barn and took care of it himself; it was much cheaper than
keeping it in Dearborn's garage.

There were several other friends in the A's and B's and two in the C's
who were taken out in the Wheeler automobile before Herbert one day
groaned:

"Jessica, this alphabet business is killing me. It does seem as if Z
never would be reached!"

"Why, Herbert!--and they 're all our friends, and you know how much
they think of it."

"I think of it, too, when the dinner checks and the supper checks come
in. Jessica, we just simply can't stand it!"

Jessica frowned and sighed.

"I know, dear; but when the _car_ did n't cost anything--"

"Well, lobster salads and chicken patties cost something," mentioned
the man grimly.

"I know it; but it seems so--so selfish to go all by ourselves with
those empty seats behind us. And there are so many I have promised to
take. Herbert, what can we do?"

"I don't know; but I know what we can't do. We can't feed them to the
tune of a dollar or two a plate any longer."

There was a long pause; then Jessic