Parnassus on Wheels | Page 7

Parnassus
and Mr. Mifflin backing Pegasus into the shafts. I saw her make a
valiant effort to comprehend the sign painted on the side of the
van--and give it up.
"You going driving?" she said blankly.
"Yes," I said, and fled upstairs.
I always keep my bank book in an old Huyler box in the top drawer of

my bureau. I don't save very quickly, I'm afraid. I have a little income
from some money father left me, but Andrew takes care of that.
Andrew pays all the farm expenses, but the housekeeping accounts fall
to me. I make a fairish amount of pin money on my poultry and some
of my preserves that I send to Boston, and on some recipes of mine that
I send to a woman's magazine now and then; but generally my savings
don't amount to much over $10 a month. In the last five years I had put
by something more than $600. I had been saving up for a Ford. But just
now it looked to me as if that Parnassus would be more fun than a Ford
ever could be. Four hundred dollars was a lot of money, but I thought
of what it would mean to have Andrew come home and buy it. Why,
he'd be away until Thanksgiving! Whereas if I bought it I could take it
away, have my adventure, and sell it somewhere so that Andrew never
need see it. I hardened my heart and determined to give the Sage of
Redfield some of his own medicine.
My balance at the Redfield National Bank was $615.20. I sat down at
the table in my bedroom where I keep my accounts and wrote out a
check to Roger Mifflin for $400. I put in plenty of curlicues after the
figures so that no one could raise the check into $400,000; then I got
out my old rattan suit case and put in some clothes. The whole business
didn't take me ten minutes. I came downstairs to find Mrs. McNally
looking sourly at the Parnassus from the kitchen door.
"You going away in that--that 'bus, Mis' McGill?" she asked.
"Yes, Mrs. McNally," I said cheerfully. Her use of the word gave me an
inspiration. "That's one of the new jitney 'buses we hear about. He's
going to take me to the station. Don't you worry about me. I'm going
for a holiday. You get Mr. McGill's dinner ready for him. After dinner
tell him there's a note for him in the living-room."
"I tank that bane a queer 'bus," said Mrs. McNally, puzzled. I think the
excellent woman suspected an elopement.
I carried my suit case out to the Parnassus. Pegasus stood placidly
between the shafts. From within came sounds of vigorous movement.
In a moment the little man burst out with a bulging portmanteau in his

hand. He had a tweed cap slanted on the back of his head.
"There!" he cried triumphantly. "I've packed all my personal effects
clothes and so on--and everything else goes with the transaction. When
I get on the train with this bag I'm a free man, and hurrah for Brooklyn!
Lord, won't I be glad to get back to the city! I lived in Brooklyn once,
and I haven't been back there for ten years," he added plaintively.
"Here's the check," I said, handing it to him. He flushed a little, and
looked at me rather shamefacedly. "See here," he said, "I hope you're
not making a bad bargain? I don't want to take advantage of a lady. If
you think your brother...."
"I was going to buy a Ford, anyway," I said, "and it looks to me as
though this parcheesi of yours would be cheaper to run than any flivver
that ever came out of Detroit. I want to keep it away from Andrew and
that's the main thing. You give me a receipt and we'll get away from
here before he comes back."
He took the check without a word, hoisted his fat portmanteau on the
driver's seat, and then disappeared in the van. In a minute he reappeared.
On the back of one of his poetical cards he had written:
Received from Miss McGill the sum of four hundred dollars in
exchange for one Travelling Parnassus in first class condition,
delivered to her this day, October 3rd, 19--.
Signed ROGER MIFFLIN.
"Tell me," I said, "does your Parnassus--my Parnassus, rather--contain
everything I'm likely to need? Is it stocked up with food and so on?"
"I was coming to that," he said. "You'll find a fair supply of stuff in the
cupboard over the stove, though I used to get most of my meals at
farmhouses along the road. I generally read aloud to people as I go
along, and they're often