and on his arm. "And now let's go for a nice
ride." She was as enthusiastic as a girl. "I'm sure this is a nice
car."

They went out in the country a short distance, out on the Bloomfield
pike. She found he was from Bloomfield and trilled away in a high,
shrill cackle that she loved every stick and stone in that adorable
country. And when she found that he was the nephew of Mrs. Mosby, or,
rather, Loraine Fawcette, that was, her ecstasy knew no bounds.

"Why, I took Tom LeMasters away from her," she giggled, and leaned
over with her wrinkled and scented face close to his, grasping him by
the arm.

After that they were bosom friends. He told her about Bloomfield as it
came back to him, rhapsodized over its meadows and woods and "purling
streams," and felt a rising desire to taste its joys again. And all
the while his voice would fall on deaf ears and her eyes would take on
a misty look as though peering down dark, dusty corridors; and
interrupting him, she would recall the circumstances of some famous
party, summoning forth the creaking images of old men and women,
yellow and withering, some of them long dead.

The afternoon passed swiftly away. They found themselves in a bit of
lane that dipped down into a little grove of trees, just as the sun
was gathering his cohorts for departure. A breath of fragrant breeze,
heavy laden with clover and sweet with the stretch of cool, moist
shade through which it had passed, came sweeping across the road, and
the sounds of a farm hand whetting his scythe. Through a rift in the
trees appeared a patch of delicate blue sky and the edge of a rosy
cloud. Mrs. LeMasters came to the wistful end of an alluring and musty
reminiscence and gazed regretfully at the tawdry beauties of the
present. Then she turned her eyes upon Joe, and with a sigh that was
sodden with romance: "How could you ever bear to leave that adorable
spot?"

Joe smiled in mellow acquiescence and almost agreed with her.

Of course, the Stokes car never had a chance. Before he took his leave
of her he had her signed order for a "Sedan" for immediate delivery.
And she grasped his hand and held it, leaning coyly close. "We're
going to have some wonderful times this fall. We'll drive to
Bloomfield, just you and I. And what am I going to do about a
chauffeur? What will I ever do with a strange creature who cares for
nothing but speed? Why don't you stay with me and drive for me? We'll
just not stay home a minute."

He