Chapter VIII: The Girl

Jack and Ed, standing near the machine, under the sign post, peered at the advancing figure of the girl. She had stopped short--stopped rather timidly, it seemed, and she now stood there silent, apparently waiting for the boys to say something.

"It's a girl, sure enough," said Ed, in a low voice. "Out alone, too."

Jack, who never hesitated long at doing anything, resolved to at once plunge into the midst of this new problem.

"Excuse me," he said, taking off his cap, and he knew she could see him, for they were all in the glare of the auto's lamps now, "excuse me, but can you tell us if there is any shorter way to get to Fairport than by going back? We are lost, it seems."

"So--so am I!" faltered the girl.

"What?" exclaimed Ed.

"That is--well, I'm not exactly lost," and Jack could see her smile faintly. Yet behind the smile there seemed to be sorrow, and it was evident, even in the difficult light of the gas lamps, that she had been crying.

"You're lost--but not exactly lost," remarked Ed, with a laugh. "That's--er--rather odd; isn't it?" He was anxious to put the girl at her ease. Clearly a strange young girl--and pretty, too, as the boys could see--would need to be put at her ease when alone, after dark, on a country road.

"I--I guess it is," she admitted, and Jack made a mental note that he liked her voice. Quite discriminating in regard to voices Jack was getting--at least in his own estimation.

"Then you can't help us much, I'm afraid," went on Ed. "If you're a stranger around here----"

"Oh, yes, I'm a stranger--quite a stranger. I don't know a soul!"

She said it so quickly--bringing out the words so promptly after Ed's suggestion, that it almost seemed as though she had caught at a straw thrown in her way by a chance wind. Why did she want to make it appear that she was a stranger? And that she did want to give that impression--rightly or wrongly--was very evident to both young men.

"Then we are both--I mean all three--lost," spoke Jack, good-naturedly. "I guess there's no help for it, Ed. We'll have to go back the way we came until we strike the road to Fairport."

"I suppose so. But it will bring us in pretty late."

"No help for it. What is to be--has to be. Cora will worry--she has that habit lately."

"Naturally. Well, maybe we can get to a telephone somewhere, and let them know."

"You could do that!" exclaimed the girl, impulsively. "I know what it is to worry. I saw a telephone not more than a mile back. I mean," she explained with a smile, "I saw a place where there was a telephone pay station sign. It was in a little country store, where I stopped to--to----"

She hesitated and her voice faltered.

"Look here!" exclaimed Jack. "Perhaps we can help _you_! Are you going anywhere that we can give you a lift? We're bound to be late anyhow, and a little more time won't matter. You see my sister and some friends--other girls and boys--are out on a trip. We are going to Sandy Point Cove, and are taking it easy on the way. My machine developed tire trouble a while ago--quite a while it is now," he said ruefully, "and the others went on. I thought I could get up to them, but I took the wrong road and--well, here we are. Now if we can give you a ride, why, we'll be glad to. Ed can sit on the run-board, and you----"

"Oh, I couldn't trouble you!" the girl exclaimed. "I--I am going----"

She stopped rather abruptly and Jack and Ed each confessed to the other, later, that they were mortally afraid she was going to cry.

"And if she had," said Jack, "I'd have been up in the air for fair!"

"Same here!" admitted Ed.

But she did not cry. She conquered the inclination, and went on.

"I mean that I don't know exactly where I am going," the girl said. "It isn't important, anyhow. It doesn't much matter where I stop." There was a pathetic, hopeless note in her voice now.

Again Jack took a sudden resolve.

"Look here!" he exclaimed, "I've got a sister, and Ed here, and I, have a lot of girl friends. We wouldn't want them to be out alone at night on a country road. So if you'll excuse us, I think it would be better if we could take you to some of your friends. We won't mind in the least, going out of our way to do it, either."

"Of course not!" put in Ed.

"But I--I----" she seemed struggling with some emotion. "I love to be in the country!" she said suddenly--as though she had made up her mind to rush through some explanation of her plight "I take long walks often. I think I walked too far to-day. I--I expected to reach Hayden before dark, but I stayed too long in a pretty little wood. I--am going to stop at the Young Women's Christian Association in Hayden. But that's only a mile further, and I can be there before it's very much darker."

"If it can get any darker than this, I'd like to see it," remarked Ed, staring at the blackness which surrounded them.

"If it's only a mile or so farther then we're going to take you there!" exclaimed Jack. "We're bound to be late anyhow, and we might as well be killed for a sheep as a lamb. Ed, it's you for the run-board."

"With pleasure," and he bowed to the girl.

She laughed--just the least bit.

"Oh, but I couldn't think of troubling you!" the girl exclaimed. "Really, I--I----" She did not know what to say. Jack saw her clasp her hands convulsively. He had a good look at her face. Really she was quite pretty, he decided, an opinion in which Ed coincided.

"Look here!" cried Jack, purposely rough. He had found that tone advisable to take with Cora sometimes. "Look here, we are going on to Hayden anyhow, so you might as well ride with us as walk. I know my sister, Cora Kimball--perhaps you know her----?"

"I don't believe I do," she answered.

"Well, no matter--anyhow, she'd never forgive me--nor Ed either, if we left you like this. And I know Ed would fuss more about Cora not forgiving him than I would. So you've just got to ride," and he smiled frankly.

"But I thought you said you were going to Fairport," spoke the girl.

"We are," answered Jack. "But I'm not going to chase back all those fifteen miles we came by mistake. It would take too long, especially after dark. So if we can't take a short cut over from Hayden, we'll stay there all night, and go on in the morning. I can telephone my sister. I suppose there are 'phones in Hayden."

"Oh, yes, it--it's quite a town--a small city, I believe," said the girl. "I inquired about it at the last stop I made, and they told me of the association where I could stay."

"Then come on!" invited Jack. "I'll crank up, and you can ride with us."

"You're sure it won't be any trouble?"

"Not a bit--it will be a pleasure to have you. But perhaps we ought to look for a nearer telephone, and send word to your friends," Jack suggested.

"No--no," she spoke rapidly. "I haven't any--I mean they won't worry about me. I am used to looking after myself."

Truly she seemed so, and now she appeared even more self-reliant as she stood there in the glare of the lamps of the auto. Her face had lost some of the traces of hopeless despair, and she had somehow managed to get rid of the evidences of the tears. The boys wondered how she did it, for it was rather like a magician's trick, "done in full view of the audience." Jack and Ed paid a mental tribute to her accomplishment in using a handkerchief.

"Are you sure you are comfortable there?" the girl asked Ed, as he crouched partly on the floor of the car, with his feet on the run-board.

"Quite," he affirmed, not altogether truthfully, but at least gallantly.

"It seems so selfish of me, that really----"

"Say, Ed's all right!" cried Jack, gaily. "He'd rather ride on the run-board than anywhere else; wouldn't you, old man?"

"Sure!"

"In fact, he often sits there when there's a vacant seat. It's a hobby of his. I've tried to break him of it, but he is hopeless!"

"Now I know you're poking fun at me!" she exclaimed, and she laughed lightly. "I've almost a notion----"

She made a motion as though to alight.

"Don't you dare!" cried Jack. "Here we go!" He let in the gear, and the clutch came into place. The car moved forward slowly, and gathered speed.

"We'll be there in no time," Jack went on. "It's rather unpleasant for you, isn't it, going about by yourself?" he asked the girl.

"Oh, I'm used to it. I have been working in an office, but I--I decided on a vacation. I took it rather suddenly, and I haven't made any plans since. I decided to go off--and, yes, lose myself for a time. That's why I'm in a part of the country I have never visited before."

"I see," remarked Jack. "It is sometimes good to do things on an impulse. I know how tiresome the dull routine and grind must be."

"He never worked a day in his life!" exclaimed Ed.

"No knocking, old man!" laughed Jack. "I think I'd like to be in an office myself," he added. Mentally he decided that one where this girl was employed might not be a half-bad place.

"Yes, he'd want an office where the hours were from ten to twelve, with an hour for lunch," grunted Ed, as the car went over a bump, jolting him.

"I really liked the work," said the girl. "Of course there were some unpleasant features--in fact, that is why I left so suddenly. Now I am--free!"

She took a long breath of the night air rushing against her cheeks, as though the idea of being free was most delightful.

They talked of various subjects as the car shot along in the darkness. Both Jack and Ed were quite curious to learn more about this stray girl, but they had the good sense not to ask leading questions. Nor did she volunteer much information.

Finally the lights of Hayden glimmered into view, and soon the car had stopped in front of the Y. W. C. A., which Jack had located through a policeman.

"Now I shall be all right," the girl exclaimed as Jack helped her out. "Thank you a thousand times. I really--I don't know what I should have done had I not met you. I--I was just beginning to--get afraid."

"Are you sure you will be all right now?" asked Ed.

"Can't we do anything more for you?" Jack wanted to know. "I'm Jack Kimball, of Chelton, and this is Ed Foster. We are pretty well known in these parts, though we've never been in Hayden before. We auto around a good bit. If we can do anything----"

"Oh, no, thank you ever so much. I shall be all right." She gave Jack her hand, in a warm clasp, and then turned to Ed. "Thank you--so much!" She smiled, showing her white, even teeth, and ran up the steps of the building--a place where a lone girl could always find a safe shelter. She turned on the top step, waved a good-bye to them, and disappeared behind the doors.