Edison Marshall

“ The excitement, the near approach to tragedy, the influence of the liquor manifesting itself once more in his veins were making him stare and think like a silly fool. The girl was a particularly attractive shopgirl or factory worker, strong and athletic for all her appealing slenderness, doubtless pretty enough to waken considerable interest in certain of his friends who went in for that sort of thing, but he, Ned Cornet, had other interests. ”

“ Ned Cornet had had automobiles at his command long before it was safe for him to have his hands on them. When cold sober he drove rather too fast, none too carefully, but had an almost incredible mastery over his car. He knew how to pick his wheel tracks over bumpy roads, and he knew the exact curve that a car could take with safety in rounding a corner. Even now, in the crisis that had just been, he had handled his car like the vet eran he was. ”

“ It was a somewhat significant thing, to waken hope in the breast of an otherwise despairing father, that in that stress and terror he had kept his head, he had handled his brakes and wheel in the only way that would be of any possible good, and almost by miracle had avoided a smashing crash that could have easily killed him and every occupant in the colliding car. ”

“ Ned whirled, turning his eyes from the girl's face for the first time. “Ned Cornet,” he answered. And he gave his father's address on Queen Anne Hill.
“Show up before Judge Rossman in the morning,” he ordered. “The jitney there will send their bills to you. I'd advise you to pay 'em.”
“I'll pay 'em,” Ned agreed. “I'll throw in an extra twenty to pay for their loss of time.”
“This young lady says she ain't hurt,” the policeman went on. “It certainly is no credit to you that she ain't. There is plenty of witnesses here if she wants to make a suit.” ”

“ Sensitive as a flower to sunlight, she realized in a moment that a barrier of caste had dropped down between them. She was silent the rest of the way.
“Would you mind telling me what you do—in the way of work, I mean?” he asked her, at her door. “My father has a business that employs many girls. ”