"Have a good time!" he shouted after them, as they plunged out of sight, somewhat jerkily, for Thomas, who had not driven a great deal, was not a master of gear-shifting. His mother looked at him anxiously.

"I can"t help feelin" you"re up to some deviltry, Austin," she said uneasily, "though I don"t know just what "tis. I"m kinder nervous about this plan of them goin" off to Wallacetown."

"I"m not," said Austin with a wicked grin, and took out his French dictionary.

The first part of the evening, however, seemed to indicate that Mrs.

Gray"s fears were groundless. Sylvia and Thomas reached the Moving-Picture Palace without mishap, though they had left the Homestead so late owing to the latter"s change of attire and the slow rate at which the mud and his lack of skill had obliged them to ride, that the audience was already a.s.sembled, and "The Terror of the Plains," a stirring tale of an imaginary West, was in full progress before they were seated. Thomas"s dress-suit did not fail to attract immediate attention and equally immediate remarks, and Sylvia, who hated to be conspicuous, felt her cheeks beginning to burn. But--more sincerely than Mr. Elliott--she decided that it was better to wait until the entertainment was over than to attract further notice by going out at once. Thomas, less sensitive than she, enjoyed himself thoroughly.

"We have splendid pictures in Burlington," he announced, "but this is good for a place of this size, isn"t it, Sylvia?"

"Yes. Don"t talk so loudly."

"I can"t talk any softer and have you hear unless I put my head up closer. Can I?"

"Of course, you may not. Don"t be so silly."

"I didn"t mean to be fresh. You"re not cross, are you, Sylvia?"

It seemed to her as if the "show" would never end. Chagrin and resentment overcame her. What had possessed her to come to this hot, stuffy place with Thomas, instead of reading French in her peaceful, pleasant sitting-room with Austin? Why didn"t Austin show more eagerness to be with her, anyway? She liked to be with him--ever and ever so much--didn"t see half so much of him as she wanted to. There was no use beating about the bush. It was perfectly true. She was growing fonder of him, and more dependent on him, every day. And every other man she had ever known had been grateful for her least favor, while he--Her hurt pride seemed to stifle her. She was very close to tears. She was jerked back to composure by the happy voice of Thomas.

"My, but that was a thriller! Come on over to the drug-store, Sylvia, and have an ice-cream cone."

"I"m not hungry," said Sylvia, rising, "and it must be getting awfully late. I"d rather go straight home."

Thomas, though disappointed, saw no choice. But once off the brilliantly lighted "Main Street," and lumbering down the road towards Hamstead, he decided not to put off the great moment, for which he had been waiting, any longer. Wondering why his stomach seemed to be caving in so, he tactfully began.

"Did you know I was going to be twenty-one next month, Sylvia?" he asked.

"No," said Sylvia absently; "that is, I had forgotten. You seem more like eighteen to me."

This was a somewhat crushing beginning. But Thomas was not daunted.

"I suppose that is because I was older than most when I went to college,"

he said cheerfully, "but though you"re a little bit older, I"m nearer your age than any of the others--much nearer than Austin. Had you ever thought of that?"

"No," said Sylvia again, still more absently. "Why should I? I feel about a thousand."

"Well, you _look_ about sixteen! Honest, Sylvia, no one would guess you"re a day over that, you"re so pretty. Has any one ever told you how pretty you are?"

"Well, it has been mentioned," said Sylvia dryly, "but I have always thought that it was one of those things that was greatly overestimated."

"Why, it couldn"t be! You"re perfectly lovely! There isn"t a girl in Burlington that can hold a candle to you. I"ve been going out, socially, a lot all winter, and I know. I"ve been to hops and whist-parties and church-suppers. The girls over there have made quite a little of me, Sylvia, but I"ve never--"

There was a deafening report. Thomas, cursing inwardly, interrupted himself.

"We must have had a blow-out," he said, bringing the car to a noisy stop.

"Wait a second, while I get out and see."

It was all too true. A large nail had pa.s.sed straight through one of the front tires. He stripped off his ulster, and the coat of his dress-suit, and turned up his immaculate trousers.

"You"ll have to get up for a minute, while I get the tools from under the seat, Sylvia. I"m awfully sorry.--It"s pretty dark, isn"t it?--I never changed a tire but once before. Austin"s always done that."

"Austin"s always done almost everything," snapped Sylvia. Then, peering around to the back of the car, "Why don"t _you do_ something? What _is_ the matter now?"

"The lock on the extra wheel"s rusted--you see it hasn"t been undone all winter. I can"t get it off."

"Well, _smash_ it, then! We can"t stay here all night."

"I haven"t got anything to smash it _with_. I must have forgotten to put part of the tools back when I cleaned the car."

"Oh, Thomas, you are the most _inefficient_ boy about everything except farming that I ever saw! Let me see if I can"t help."

She jumped out, her feet, clad in silk stockings and satin slippers, sinking into the mud as she did so. Together for fifteen minutes, rapidly growing hot and angry, they wrestled with the refractory lock. At the end of that time they were no nearer success than they had been in the beginning.

"We"ll have to crawl home on a flat tire," she said at last disgustedly; "I hope we"ll get there for breakfast."

Thomas had never seen her temper ruffled before. Her imperiousness was always sweet, and it was Heaven to be dictated to by her. The fact that he believed her to be comparing him in her mind to Austin did not help matters. Austin, as he knew very well, would have managed some way to get that tire changed. For some time they rode along in silence, the mud churning up on either side of the guards with every rod that they advanced. At last, realizing that his precious moments were slipping rapidly away, and that though, in Sylvia"s present mood, it was hardly a favorable time to go on with his declaration, the morrow would be even less so, Thomas summoned up his courage once more.

"Is your back tired?" he asked. "It"s awfully jolty, going over these ruts. I could steer all right with one hand, if you would let me put my other arm around you."

"You"re not steering any too well as it is," remarked Sylvia tartly.

"_Thomas_! What are you thinking of? Don"t you touch me!--There, now you"ve done it!"

Thomas certainly had "done it." Sylvia, at his first movement, had slapped him in the face with no gentle tap. And Thomas, with only one hand on the wheel, and too amazed to keep his wits about him, had allowed the car to slide down the side of the road into the deep, muddy gutter, straight in front of the Elliotts" house.

Late as it was, a light was snapped on in the entrance without delay.

Electricity had been installed here before any other place in the village had been blessed with it, for the owners never missed a chance of seeing anything, and Mrs. Elliott seemed to sleep with one eye and one ear open.

She appeared now in the doorway, dressed in a long, gray flannel "wrapper," her hair securely fastened in metal clasps all about her head, against the "crimps" for the next day.

"Who is it?" she cried sharply--"and what do you want?"

Of all persons in the world, this was the last one whom either Sylvia or Thomas desired to see. Neither answered. Nothing dismayed, Mrs. Elliott advanced down the walk. Her carpet-slippers flapped as she came.

"Come on, Joe," she called over her shoulder to her less intrepid spouse.

"Are you goin" to leave me alone to face these desperate drunkards, lurchin" around in the dead of night, an" makin" the road unsafe for doctors who might be out on some errand of mercy--they"re the only _respectable_ people who wouldn"t be abed at this hour of the night. You better get right to the telephone, an" notify Jack Weston. He ain"t much of a police officer, to be sure, but I guess he can deal with b.u.ms like these--too stewed to answer me, even!" Then, as she drew nearer, she gave a shriek that might well have been heard almost as far off as Wallacetown, "Land of mercy! It"s Sylvia an" Thomas!"

Thomas cowered. No other word could express it. But Sylvia got out, slamming the door behind her.

"We"ve been to Wallacetown to a moving-picture show," she said with a dignity which she was very far from feeling, "and we"ve been unfortunate in having tire-trouble on the way home. And now we seem to be stuck in the mud. I had no idea the roads were in such a condition, or of course I shouldn"t have gone. We can"t possibly pry the motor up in this darkness, so I think we may as well leave it where it is, first as last until morning, and walk the rest of the way home. Come on, Thomas."

"I wouldn"t ha" b"lieved," said Mrs. Elliott severely, "that you would ha" done such a thing. Prayer-meetin" night, too! Well, it"s fortunate no one seen you but me an" Joe. If I was gossipy, like some, it would be all over town in no time, but you know I never open my lips. But, land sakes!

here comes a _team_. Who can this be?"

Eagerly she peered out through the darkness. Then she turned again to the unfortunate pair.

"It"s Austin in the carryall," she cried excitedly; "now, ain"t that a piece of luck? You won"t have to walk home, after all. Though what _he"s_ out for, either, at this hour--"

Austin reined in his horse. "Because I knew Sylvia and Thomas must have got into some difficulty," he said quietly. Considering the pitch at which it had been uttered, it had not been hard to overhear Mrs.

Elliott"s speech. "Pretty bad travelling, wasn"t it? I"m sorry. Tires, too? Well, that was hard luck. But we"ll be home in no time now, and of course the show was worth it. You didn"t hurt your dress-suit any, did you, Thomas? I worried a little about that. You drive--I"ll get in on the back seat with Sylvia, and make sure the robe"s tucked around her all right. It seems to be coming off cold again, doesn"t it? Good-night, Mrs.