The Scarlet Car | Page 7

me quiet, or your right
either. Why should I be held by your engagement? I was not consulted
about it. I did not give my consent, did I? I tell you, you are the only
woman in the world I will ever marry, and if you think I am going to
keep silent and watch some one else carry you off without making a
fight for you, you don't know me."
"If you go on," said the girl, "it will mean that I shall not see you
again."
"Then I will write letters to you."
"I will not read them," said the girl. The young man laughed defiantly.
"Oh, yes, you will read them!" He pounded his gauntleted fist on the
rim of the wheel. "You mayn't answer them, but if I can write the way I
feel, I will bet you'll read them."
His voice changed suddenly, and he began to plead. It was as though
she were some masculine giant bullying a small boy.
"You are not fair to me," he protested. "I do not ask you to be kind, I
ask you to be fair. I am fighting for what means more to me than
anything in this world, and you won't even listen. Why should I
recognize any other men! All I recognize is that I am the man who
loves you, that `I am the man at your feet.' That is all I know, that I love
you."
The girl moved as though with the cold, and turned her head from him.
"I love you," repeated the young man.
The girl breathed like one who has been swimming under water, but,
when she spoke, her voice was calm and contained.
"Please!" she begged, "don't you see how unfair it is. I can't go away; I
HAVE to listen."

The young man pulled himself upright, and pressed his lips together.
"I beg your pardon," he whispered.
There was for some time an unhappy silence, and then Winthrop added
bitterly: "Methinks the punishment exceeds the offence."
"Do you think you make it easy for ME?" returned the girl.
She considered it most ungenerous of him to sit staring into the
moonlight, looking so miserable that it made her heart ache to comfort
him, and so extremely handsome that to do so was quite impossible.
She would have liked to reach out her hand and lay it on his arm, and
tell him she was sorry, but she could not. He should not have looked so
unnecessarily handsome.
Sam came running toward them with five grizzly bears, who balanced
themselves apparently with some slight effort upon their hind legs. The
grizzly bears were properly presented as: "Tommy Todd, of my class,
and some more like him. And," continued Sam, "I am going to quit you
two and go with them. Tom's car broke down, but Fred fixed it, and
both our cars can travel together. Sort of convoy," he explained.
His sister signalled eagerly, but with equal eagerness he retreated from
her.
"Believe me," he assured her soothingly, "I am just as good a chaperon
fifty yards behind you, and wide awake, as I am in the same car and
fast asleep. And, besides, I want to hear about the game. And, what's
more, two cars are much safer than one. Suppose you two break down
in a lonely place? We'll be right behind you to pick you up. You will
keep Winthrop's car in sight, won't you, Tommy?" he said.
The grizzly bear called Tommy, who had been examining the Scarlet
Car, answered doubtfully that the only way he could keep it in sight
was by tying a rope to it.
"That's all right, then," said Sam briskly, "Winthrop will go slow."
So the Scarlet Car shot forward with sometimes the second car so far in
the rear that they could only faintly distinguish the horn begging them
to wait, and again it would follow so close upon their wheels that they
heard the five grizzly bears chanting beseechingly
Oh, bring this wagon home, John, It will not hold us a-all.
For some time there was silence in the Scarlet Car, and then Winthrop
broke it by laughing.
"First, I lose Peabody," he explained, "then I lose Sam, and now, after I

throw Fred overboard, I am going to drive you into Stamford, where
they do not ask runaway couples for a license, and marry you."
The girl smiled comfortably. In that mood she was not afraid of him.
She lifted her face, and stretched out her arms as though she were
drinking in the moonlight.
"It has been such a good day," she said simply, "and I am really so very
happy."
"I shall be equally frank," said Winthrop. "So am I."
For two hours they had been