Patty's Motor Car

This whole principle was foreign to Patty’s nature. Systematic and methodical herself, she always used her own belongings, and never would have dreamed of borrowing those of another, unless through sheer necessity.

“There’s one thing,” she thought to herself, “if I give her this ride and get it over with, she may keep away while those other people are here. I must be careful not to let her know they are coming.”

The car was at the door and they were soon started. Patty determined to be kind and pleasant to her guest, but to avoid personalities, and to say nothing which could be construed as an invitation to further acquaintance.

One point she conceded, however, and concluded to call Miss Galbraith by her first name. This she did, only because Mona persisted in calling her Patty, and it sounded so purposely stilted and ungracious to persist in saying Miss Galbraith.

Patty asked her guest to choose the road they should take, and was surprised to find that Mona knew of a great many lovely drives which Patty had not yet discovered. Though, of course, it was not surprising, as Mona had spent four summers at Spring Beach, and it was Patty’s first one.

Mona chose a route called the Blue Lake Drive, which took them through a lovely stretch of pine woods, and out into an orchard-dotted country, the goal being a small and very blue lake. On the shore was a tiny Tea House, which proved a pleasant resting-place for a half-hour.

The girls sat sipping tea and eating crumpets, and Patty began to think that Mona was not nearly as unlikable as she had thought. Her shortcomings were more those of an impulsive and untrained nature than any more serious faults. She was well educated and well read, and Patty found that they had many favourite books and authors in common. But she was pushing, and she continually asserted her intention of being Patty’s intimate friend, until Patty lost her patience and broke out, rather sharply.

“Look here, Mona,” she said, “I like you, or at least I think I’m going to like you, but I won’t be pushed or pulled into a friendship so suddenly. You don’t know me at all, but once in a while I have a way of speaking my mind right straight out, and I tell you frankly that, if you want to be friends with me, you’ll upset the whole kettle of fish by rushing it too hard!”

Mona looked utterly amazed. “What are you talking about?” she said. “Do you call me pushing?”

“I do that!” declared Patty; “just exactly that! and you know it as well as I do! I shouldn’t talk to anybody like this on such short acquaintance, but you brought it on yourself, and, if you want to get angry, you may!”

“Angry!” echoed Mona. “Why, I like you all the better for such straightforward talk! I’m sorry I seem pushing, but, – well, – ‘you brought it on yourself’!”

Patty had to laugh at this, for it was really a subtle compliment to her own attractiveness. Also, she decided she could do little by scolding Mona. So she began to talk of other things, leaving the question of friendship to be settled some other time.

Soon they started homeward again, for, as Patty explained to her guest, she was under promise to get home before dark.

“How beautifully your car runs,” said Mona, as they skimmed smoothly along. “Do you never have an accident?”

“Nothing of any account,” returned Patty, and then she told Mona of the day when her wheels got stuck in the sand. “But I have never had anything more serious than that,” she went on, “and I hope I never shall. Have you never run a car yourself?”

“No, it never occurred to me to do so. We have several cars, of course, and lots of chauffeurs and grooms, but only since I’ve seen you in your car have I thought of driving one myself. But I’m going to; I’ve already asked father to get me one exactly like this.”

“Will he do it?”

“Of course; he gets me anything I want. And when I get it, Patty, we can go out together in our two cars. Won’t that be fun?”

“H’m, h’m!” murmured Patty, who wasn’t overjoyed at the proposition. “Gracious! what’s the matter?”

“Oh, my! what is the matter? Did something burst?”

“It did so,” said Patty, cheerfully; “the inner tube of this front wheel has burst, and now, if you want to see a successful imitation of a young lady mending her own motor car, just watch me while I get out my little kit of tools, and put my reserve tube in place of this burst one.”

“Can you do it yourself?” enquired Mona, with a look of surprised admiration. “I didn’t know a girl could do things like that!”

“This girl can,” returned Patty, opening her tool-box with a capable air. But the next moment her capable air completely vanished, and she turned to Mona with a comical expression of dismay. “What do you think?” she said. “I’m always so careful to have my car and my tools and my accessories all in perfect order, and now see what’s happened! I had this same experience the other day. The inner tube burst, and I put in my reserve tube and then I put the burst tube away in my kit, and here it is yet. I utterly forgot to have it replaced by a new one!”

“Oh, then the reserve tube that you want to put in is as burst as that one you have just taken out!”

“You’ve struck it right! that’s the situation. Now what’s the solution? There isn’t any answer!”

“Then, what do we do?” asked Mona, looking scared.

“Oh, we just sit here,” said Patty, returning to her seat in the runabout. “It isn’t a question of doing anything, because we can’t do anything. We can sit here, or we can walk home. Or, rather, you can walk home, if you want to. I sha’n’t leave my car, if I sit here all night.”

“And I sha’n’t leave you, if we sit here all night! But if I can walk anywhere, and get assistance for you, I’ll gladly do so.”

“Mona, you’re a good deal of a trump,” said Patty, looking into the girl’s earnest face; “but I don’t know of any place you could get assistance nearer than home, and that’s ten miles away. You see, Mona, when motor cars do break down, they invariably choose a place far away from any garage or repair shop. The farther away it is, the better the car likes it. Can’t you hear Camilla chuckling at our discomfiture?”

“How can you joke, Patty? I think it’s awful! What can we do?”

“We can’t do anything, but, if we’re patient, some one may come along who can help us. You know, there’s a certain courtesy of the road among motorists that makes them help each other whenever they can. At least, this courtesy is said to exist, but I’ve never seen much of it, myself. However, I’ve had very few occasions to desire it. Now we’ll sit and wait for courtesy.”

Nor did they wait long. Very soon a good-sized motor came by, and the polite driver of it stopped and asked the girls if he could be of any assistance.

Patty liked his quiet, courteous manner, and she explained her difficulty.

But the man, though willing, was unable to help her, for his tires were not the same size as those on Patty’s ear. He would have been glad, he said, to tow her car, but he was going in the other direction. So Patty thanked him for his interest in the matter, and he went on his way.

“Now, you see,” observed Patty, “that there is a courtesy of the road. I’ve no doubt some more courtesy will come along soon, and we’ll get fixed up somehow.”

But courtesy seemed to be scant that afternoon, for half a dozen cars, both large and small, whizzed past them apparently without noticing their plight.

At last, however, a man came by alone in a small electric runabout, not unlike Patty’s own.

“Hi! there!” he called out, “you in trouble?”

Patty did not like his mode of address, nor did she like the looks of the man himself. And even though she greatly desired his help, and felt sure that he might have a reserve inner tube which would fit her tire, she hesitated to ask him for it, as she so distrusted and disliked his general appearance. He looked good-natured, but he did not look to be a man of refinement. But while she hesitated, Mona, greatly to Patty’s surprise, took the situation in hand, and called back to the man: “Yes, we’re in a dreadful fix! Can’t you help us out?”

“You bet I can!” cried the man, and, springing from his own car, he came over to Patty’s side.

“What’s wrong, little one?” he said, looking boldly into Patty’s face.

Patty was thoroughly annoyed at his manner, but now that things had gone so far, of course she must carry it through. Sitting up very straight, and assuming an air of severe dignity, she said: “The inner tube of a front wheel has burst, and I have no good one with which to replace it. If you have one you could spare, I should be glad to have it, and I will send you a duplicate one, if you will give me your address, or my father will send you a cheque for the price of it.”

The man looked at Patty and smiled. “You needn’t be so crusty about it,” he said; “the other young miss ain’t so crusty.”

Patty was becoming a little frightened. The man was so easy-mannered, and, though she felt sure she could manage all right by herself, she had a fear that Mona might say something foolish at any moment.

“I don’t mean to be crusty,” said Patty, smiling pleasantly, but without friendliness. “I’m simply asking the courtesy of the road from a fellow-motorist, and I feel sure, if you can, you will give it to me.”

The man backed away a little and looked at Patty with unmistakable admiration. “Well, I just guess I will!” he replied, and went straight to his own tool-box for implements.

Patty took this opportunity to whisper to Mona, “Don’t you say another word to him! You mustn’t speak to strangers so familiarly. You came near making serious trouble for us!”

Now Mona was of such a peculiar disposition that, instead of realising the truth of Patty’s words, she became incensed at the idea of being scolded, and made no reply, save to pout her lips and assume a very angry expression of countenance.

The man returned from his own car, and in a short time had inserted a new inner tube, and Camilla was in perfect order for a fresh start.

“I thank you very much,” said Patty, with a calm, gracious politeness; “and, if you’ll give me your card, or your address, my father will send you a cheque for the tire, and a note of thanks for your kindness to his daughter.”