"
To which her husband added, laughingly: "She wouldn't risk having
her new car stolen for anything."
It was twilight before we started for home, the Burtons pulling out
ahead of us. At the beginning of the climb over the mountain I saw
the Mammoth stop. We drew alongside.
"Out of gas, confound it," growled Burton, "and five miles from a
service station!"
"I'd lend you some, only I haven't much myself," said Todd.
"Got a rope?"
"Yes, but----"
"Oh, we can. We can pull you and never know it. Hitch on behind. We
like to travel in stylish company, Mrs. Todd and I."
So we towed them over the mountain and left them at a red pump. John
Quincy Burton's gratitude was immense.
"The pleasure is all ours," Todd assured him. "But, say, old man!"
"Well?"
"You ought to buy a little old used car like this some time to carry
in your tool-box."
They were still laughing when we drove away.
Not a word did Mrs. Todd utter on the homeward journey; but in the
privacy of our humble barn--
"Oh!" she cried. "I could _die_! Why did you have to say that to
Mr. Burton?"
"Amanda!"
She subsided, but she had not surrendered.
"You didn't tell me you had an engagement with him. What----"
Todd laughed.
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