king off his cap, and he knew she could see him,
for they were all in the glare of the auto's lamps now, "excuse me, but
can you tell us if there is any shorter way to get to Fairport than by
going back? We are lost, it seems."

"So--so am I!" faltered the girl.

"What?" exclaimed Ed.

"That is--well, I'm not exactly lost," and Jack could see her smile
faintly. Yet behind the smile there seemed to be sorrow, and it was
evident, even in the difficult light of the gas lamps, that she had
been crying.

"You're lost--but not exactly lost," remarked Ed, with a laugh.
"That's--er--rather odd; isn't it?" He was anxious to put the girl at her
ease. Clearly a strange young girl--and pretty, too, as the boys could
see--would need to be put at her ease when alone, after dark, on a
country road.

"I--I guess it is," she admitted, and Jack made a mental note that he
liked her voice. Quite discriminating in regard to voices Jack was
getting--at least in his own estimation.

"Then you can't help us much, I'm afraid," went on Ed. "If you're a
stranger around here----"

"Oh, yes, I'm a stranger--quite a stranger. I don't know a soul!"

She said it so quickly--bringing out the words so promptly after Ed's
suggestion, that it almost seemed as though she had caught at a straw
thrown in her way by a chance wind. Why did she want to make it
appear that she was a stranger? And that she did want to give that
impression--rightly or wrongly--was very evident to both young men.

"Then we are both--I mean all three--lost," spoke Jack, good-naturedly. "I
guess there's no help for it, Ed. We'll have to go back the way we came
until we strike the road to Fairport."

"I suppose so. But it will bring us in pretty late."

"No help for it. What is to be--has to be. Cora will worry--she has that
habit lately."

"Naturally. Well, maybe we can get to a telephone somewhere, and let them
know."

"You could do that!" exclaimed the girl, impulsively. "I know what it
is to worry. I saw a telephone not more than a mile back. I mean," she
explained with a smile, "I saw a place where there was a telephone pay
station sign. It was in a little country store, where I stopped to--to----"

She hesitated and her voice faltered.

"Look here!" exclaimed Jack. "Perhaps we can help _you_! Are you going
anywhere that we can give you a lift? We're bound to be late anyhow, and
a little more time won't matter. You see my sister and some friends--other
girls a