Margaret Cameron

“ Therefore it's up to us to give you a lift. That's the rule of the road. At least, if it isn't, it ought to be. It's the rule of our road, anyhow," he added, smiling at his wife.
"If that is true, how comes your tonneau empty?" A shrewd little twinkle appeared in the man's eyes, and his lips twisted in a wry smile. "Most people would run a mile to ride a furlong free."
"Well, you can see for yourself that some of our invitations go a-begging." laughed Dolliver. "Perhaps we're selfish, and ask only the people whom we think we'd enjoy carrying on." ”

“ Who are all these motoring people, that they should roll by in gaudy glory, puffing smoke in our faces, while we sizzle on a curb waiting for a contemptible street-car? Insolent, vulgar, blatant ostentation, I call it! ”

“ Marjorie, do you know who our poor but proud old party was yesterday? He was Galen Corbin, president of the D. & G. L.—"
"Page Dolliver!"
"—Who could buy and sell us several thousand times over, and who probably owns more automobiles at this moment than we shall ever own in all our lives."
"Dearest! That shabby old man?"
"That shabby old man. We wondered why he wasn't successful, you remember. When I was shown into his office this morning there he sat, large as life and twice as natural, in the same old gray suit. ”

“ And his pathetic little joke about his own car! Probably the poor old thing never rode in an automobile before in his life."
"I suppose it's possible that he's merely eccentric," considered Dolliver, "in which case he may have left a machine back there somewhere."
"Page! He couldn't own a car! Did you notice his clothes?"
"I did. I also noticed his eye, and it was the eye of a man accustomed to command."
"Oh, his spirit is still high," she conceded. "That's the beautiful part of him. Life may have baffled him, but he's never been wholly defeated. He still has his pride left." ”

“ Then, as if realizing that his acknowledgment had been inadequate, he stepped again toward the car and looked up into the face of the driver.
"I'm really very much obliged to you," said he. "You saved me a long, hot walk."
"That's all right," Dolliver assured him. "Why shouldn't we offer you a seat when we had three empty? That's one of the things we have this machine for."
"People of your disposition are rare."
"Oh, I don't know," deprecated the young man. "I think lots of people have the disposition, but they hesitate to show it because it isn't quite according to Hoyle. ”

“ We've always wondered why some of the nice people who had automobiles didn't share them occasionally with some of the nice people who hadn't, quite regardless of whether they were acquainted socially or not, and we've always said that if ever we owned a car we'd do that. ”

“ One of the joys of having a car would be to share it with other people; and it's so selfish to limit one's sharing to the people one happens to know socially, who can generally be relied upon to make some sort of return in kind. ”

“ Especially as the bird in the bush may flit before we get to it."
"No, it won't," he promised, laughing. "We'll bag that one, too. We'll surely have two long afternoons together."
Learning that she had shopping to do down-town, he suggested, with an amused appreciation of contrasts, that they should meet at noon at a hotel in Forty-second Street, and thence take a surface-car to their apartment on the upper West Side. Subsequently he called up the garage and directed that the new automobile be sent to his door at one o'clock, after which he gave all his energies to the business of the day. ”

“ A man may be all that you mention and still not have it. That's probably the trouble with our old friend—though he looks as if he had it. Perhaps he's had money and lost it, or maybe he has so large a family he never got a start. ”

“ But it's fine to-day, and I'm not very busy, so if it suits you, I'll come home early and freshen up a bit. Then we'll wander where our fancy listeth, and get luncheon—and perhaps dinner—on the way. How does that strike you? ”