o think that they would soon be out in the open country where
they would have wide roads with comparatively few travellers.

"What is the name of your machine, Mr. Farrington?" she asked, as they
whizzed along.

"I may as well own up," that gentleman answered, laughing. "I have named
it 'The Fact.'"

"'The Fact,'" repeated Patty, "what a funny name. Why do you call it
that? You must have some reason."

"I have," said Mr. Farrington, in a tone of mock despair. "I call it The
Fact because it is a stubborn thing."

Patty laughed merrily at this. "I'm afraid it's a libel," she said, "I'm
sure I don't see anything stubborn about the way it acts. It's going
beautifully."

"Yes, it is," said Mr. Farrington, "and I hope it will continue to do so,
but I may as well warn you that it has a most reprehensible habit of
stopping now and then, and utterly refusing to proceed. And this, without
any apparent reason, except sheer stubbornness."

"How do you finally induce it to move?" asked Patty, interested by this
trait.

"We don't induce it," said Elise, "we just sit and wait, and when the old
thing gets ready to move, it just draws a long breath and humps itself up
and down a few times, and turns a couple of somersaults, and moves on."

"What an exciting experience," said Patty. "When do you think it will
begin any such performance as that?"

"You can't tell," said Mr. Farrington. "It's as uncertain as the
weather."

"More so," said Roger. "The weather sometimes gives you warning of its
intentions, but The Fact just selects a moment when you're the farthest
possible distance from civilisation or help of any kind, and then it just
sits down and refuses to get up."

"Well, we won't cross that bridge until we come to it," said Mr.
Farrington. "Sometimes we run a week without any such mishap."

And truly there seemed no danger at present, for the big car drove ahead
as smoothly and easily as a railroad train, and Patty lay back in the
luxurious tonneau, feeling that at last she could get rested and have a
good time both at once.

The wonderful exhilaration of the swift motion through the soft June air,
the delightful sensation of the breeze which was caused by the motion of
the car, and the ever-changing natural panorama on either side of her,
gave Patty the sensation of having suddenly been transported to some
other country than that in which she had been living the past few weeks.

And so pleasantly friendly were her