Margaret Cameron

“ Got somebody to bring her that far to save time. Will you take her on to that train? It's thirty miles."
"Sure! Come along!"
"Can't! This isn't my car. 'Twouldn't be square to leave it on the road. I can get back to the village with it, somehow. Here's the money for her fare. I'll arrange to have somebody meet her in New York. And I'll come by the five-sixteen in the morning. Awfully good of you!"
"That's all right! Pleasure!" Dolliver was figuring that he could reach Hartsville and telephone to Marjorie before she would have time to become very much alarmed. ”

“ Be that as it may, Dolliver, driving alone along a mountain road in the dusk of a gray October day, stopped without second thought when he saw the distressed face of the young man working over a disabled car. He was a very young man, scarcely more than a boy. ”

“ I just said I'd gone with—with the only man I—I could ever—" Weeping, she disappeared within the curtained tonneau.
"Good Lord!" said Dolliver, giving the self-starter a vicious punch.
He was standing in the mud, adding such persuasion as he could apply to the spokes of a rear wheel, while Marjorie manipulated the willing but outmatched engine, when he saw the lights of a car coming from the direction of Clear Brook, and exclaimed: "Thank God, here comes somebody! Perhaps they'll give us a boost!" ”

“ Dolliver shrugged his shoulders. "They're 'men' out of high school these days!"
"But he is a man! He's as old as you are! He's thirty-two."
"Wha—what's that? Look here, my child, let's get to the bottom of this!" He waded toward her and put one hand on the door of the tonneau. "What does he look like—this 'man' you talk about?"
"He's big—and dark—and awfully good-looking!"
"Good God!" said Dolliver, and sat down suddenly on the running-board, dropping his face into his muddy hands.
"Why?" The girl slid across the seat and poked his shoulder, peering down at him over the edge of the car. ”

“ A mile farther on he began to wonder whether he had passed her in the deepening dusk, and at two miles he was about to turn back when he caught sight of her standing at the side of the road, peering at the approaching car. As he drew nearer she nervously caught up the suit-case at her feet, looking over her shoulder down the crossroad through which she had evidently come. He thought she seemed frightened.
"Good evening," he called. "You're waiting for a young man to take you to Hartsville to the train, aren't you?" ”

“ None of us is quite—normal. These are the facts."
Once more he told his incredible story, with Marjorie watching Comstock's angry, unresponsive face, the indignant citizen emitting contemptuous snorts, and Ruth occasionally sobbing out little phrases of corroboration.
When Dolliver had finished the girl said: "That's all perfectly true, Wallace. That's just what happened."
"H'm!" her lover returned, perceiving that she at least was convinced. "If it's true, it's very extraordinary. And if it isn't, it's—ingenious." Again Dolliver started angrily, but Comstock went on, watching Ruth. ”

“ Not being clairvoyant, he had no means of knowing that friends of their host's had arrived immediately after his departure that afternoon, bent on taking them all to their own distant camp for a couple of days' fishing, and that Marjorie, perceiving how greatly the Holdens desired to go, had bundled them off, insisting that it would be a lark for herself and Page to keep house alone in the wilderness during their absence.
"You'll have to hustle," the young man said. "Know the road?"
"No—but I'll find it."
"You've only fifty minutes, and there's a bad detour. ”

“ But to go back that difficult path on an uncertainty seemed madness, and he remembered the boy's warning that it was a bad detour. Therefore he kept on, across another steep hill, over an encouraging stretch of comparatively good road, and down into a bog of heavy, wet clay again. The car had almost struggled out of this, its fore wheels within a couple of yards of higher, drier ground, when without any additional protest or demonstration the laboring motor stopped. ”

“ Their enthusiasm was short-lived, however, for everything about the place was locked and barred, and vigorous pounding on various doors brought no response, so they tramped on. The clouds settled lower, the darkness deepened, and they had difficulty in following the road. ”

“ The indignant citizen, who had made several futile attempts to attract Comstock's attention, now seized his opportunity, shrilly declaring: "He's the man! He had this poor girl! An' ef his machine hadn't 'a' broke down out near my place—"
"Stop!" Dolliver commanded.
"Is that true?" Comstock demanded of Ruth, his hands clenching.
"But I thought he was taking me to you—"
"And he thought she was a nurse—" Marjorie interrupted. ”

“ In the end they attached a rope, which the doctor carried for such emergencies, to the rear axle of Holden's car, and the tin bug calmly and without undue effort hauled the big machine out of the mud, after which Dolliver turned it around and they all proceeded toward Crow Lake village, the indignant citizen insisting upon occupying the seat beside Dolliver, and the taciturn but vigilant doctor following. ”

“ We may find a farmer with a car—or horses—who'll take us on. Or take us back. Anyway, we're pretty sure to find shelter for you. It's going to rain before long. And if there isn't a telephone I'll keep on going until I find one and send word to your friends—and to my wife." With a pang he pictured Marjorie's alarm when he should fail to arrive, and wondered how soon Holden would set out to look for him. ”

“ She isn't a nurse—is she?"
"No. But I thought she was. Damn!" The engine had stalled again. "Just wait until we get out of this bog, and I'll tell you all about it."
"Oh, wait! Please—just a minute!" Ruth begged. "Mrs. Dolliver, did you meet a man—I mean—do you happen to know— Is anybody looking for me?"
"Anybody!" Marjorie laughed shortly. "The whole countryside's looking for you! Search-parties out in every direction—and most of them think you've eloped with my husband! Somebody even said you'd left a note—"
"Yes—but Wallace? Wallace Comstock? Haven't you seen him?"
"Comstock? ”

“ Let's hear what he'll say now?"
"I'm the man you seem to be looking for," Dolliver called, "but you're making a mistake. There's been no elopement—"
"There hain't, hey? Good reason why, too!" The man laughed unpleasantly. "Go on. Doc!" The runabout started forward, but Ruth told them to take her across, so they stopped beside the disabled car, and the disagreeable man gave her his seat and stood on the running-board himself. "I thought mebbe we'd ketch ye here. We see by your tracks that ye come this way. Who's that other woman?" ”