“Perhaps Miss Angela will join us, and we can divide the party accordingly,” persisted Mrs. Alexander, eagerly.

“Oh yes, I’d love to be one of the touring party,” said Angela. “But what do the others say about this idea?”

“If we could make the trip and get me back to London in two weeks’ time, so I can keep the appointments with several men I agreed to see, I’d like it immensely,” said Mr. Ashby.

“As for us—we planned to tour England, anyway, and traveling with a party of friends will make it all the pleasanter,” added Mr. Fabian.

“Oh, how grand! Then it is all settled, isn’t it?” cried Mrs. Alexander, clasping her be-ringed hands estatically.

“That depends on Jimmy,” remarked Angela.

“Jimmy will agree to do anything, the moment he meets this new bevy of pretty girls,” laughed Sir James.

“You don’t seem to worry much over his susceptible heart,” ventured Mr. Fabian.

“No, because ‘there is safety in numbers,’ you know,” said Lady Osgood. “And Jimmy falls out of love quite as safely as he falls in.”

Mrs. Alexander listened intently whenever anyone spoke of the heir, and she made up her mind that that son must fall in love with Dodo if she had to take him by the neck and shake him into it. And once he was in love, she would see that Dodo accepted him and gave him no excuse to fall out again.

“What do you think of this touring plan, Angie?” asked Nancy Fabian of her friend Angela.

“Why I like it, Nan; don’t you think it will be heaps of fun? Much nicer than doing as we first planned, you know. With a large party of young folks there is always more sport.”

“Yes, I agree with you.” Then Nancy turned to her father: “Have we arranged about the expenses of the trip? Of course the guests will want to entertain the owners of the two cars.”

“Oh decidedly!” agreed Mr. Fabian.

“Indeed not!” objected Mrs. Alexander. “What do you think of me, with all my money, letting others pay any of the bills?”

This shocked her hearers and she actually realized that she had committed a social error that time. So she hoped for some opening by which she could mend matters. Sir James gave it to her.

“It would seem better, if financial arrangements were left to the men, to settle. Ladies are seldom experienced enough to assume such responsibilities. So, if all agree, the cost and payment of bills will be attended to by the four gentlemen.”

That smoothed matters out agreeably for the time being, and the subject of the itinerary was taken up and discussed. Dinner passed with no other breach of etiquette by the Alexanders, and they all went to the drawing-room to complete the plans for the trip.

Dodo and her father were unusually quiet that evening, but Mrs. Alexander seemed the more pleased at it. In fact, she did so much talking about the car and how they all loved to drive it, that Dodo finally silenced her with a strange remark.

“Ma, suppose you wait until you find whether your car can be driven this summer. It may have disappeared from the garage in London, where you say it is waiting.”

Mrs. Alexander then remembered a very grave situation. “Did anyone remember that there would be thirteen in this party? Someone must drop out, or we’ll have to add an extra passenger.”

The others laughed, believing she was joking, and Sir James said: “Oh, that sort of superstition never worries one, these days.”

“Do you mean to say, you wouldn’t hesitate to do anything when there were thirteen in it?” wondered Mrs. Alexander.

“Of course not! Thirteen really ought to be a lucky number because it is made up of one and three—both very lucky numerals,” returned Sir James. “It is only the fear of a thing that gives it any power. And the sooner you overcome the fear of thirteen being unlucky, it turns out to be favorable for you.”

As long as a wise man like Sir James said so, Mrs. Alexander thought it must be so, and nothing more was said about the thirteen in the party.

Jimmy had not come in that night when the guests said good-night to their host and hostess and retired. But what Sir James and his wife said to him when he did let himself in in the ‘wee sma hours’ about the bevy of very wealthy girls who were waiting for him to choose a wife from, had due effect on the young man.

“And remember, Jimmy,” added his sister Angela. “These four girls have money by the bag! Nancy Fabian is a dandy girl, but she hasn’t a cent to bless her husband with.”

In the morning, when Mr. and Mrs. Alexander appeared in street costumes ready to go to the garage where they believed their automobile would be awaiting them, Jimmy said he would go with them.

“Oh dear no! I couldn’t think of such a thing,” declared Mrs. Alexander, anxiously, “Why, I am not even taking Dodo. But leaving her here for you to entertain.”

Jimmy grinned and thought to himself: “If Dodo is anything like her parents she’ll entertain me, not me her.” But he said aloud: “I really feel that your husband and I ought to get the car out, Mrs. Alexander, and spare you that trouble.”

“No trouble whatever, my dear boy, as I propose looking at a new roadster for myself, at the same time,” said the lady.

To escape further explanations, she managed to get her husband out of the house before the others came down to the morning meal.

As one girl after another appeared and was introduced to Jimmy, he thought: “Angie was right! here is as delightful a bouquet of lovely buds as I ever saw.”

And Nancy Fabian saw, to her satisfaction, that he had quite forgotten his broken heart that was caused by her refusal. Angela was nineteen in years, but older in experience than Jimmy who was twenty-one. She generally advised her brother in family problems that he would have shirked, had it not been for his sister.

With all the display of wealth and the semblance of riches that had to be carried on by Sir James in order to maintain his new position, the Osgood estate was in sore need of help. The loss of much money invested in war speculations and the heavy taxes imposed since the war, had impoverished his estate. But the Osgoods bravely kept up appearances while their feet were marking time on a tread-mill that Jimmy could, and would have to, work for them by marrying money.

So it was with a sense of tremendous relief that both Sir James and his wife saw such pretty American girls descend upon them, that day, and the fact that each girl had a fortune coming to her, was no obstacle in the way of their welcome of them.

Because of this fact, and also because Mrs. Alexander plainly showed her hand to the Englishman, he overcame many scruples to herself and seconded her plan of the touring party. To Angela, he confided the hope that she would return home with Jimmy securely engaged to one of the rich girls—for Jimmy had to obey his family in this matter.

The first girl Jimmy met that morning was Polly, who was always an early riser. She came downstairs in a slow dignified way, and Angela introduced her to Jimmy, who was standing in the library. He thought he had never seen such wonderful eyes, and such a mass of bronze-glinting hair. He attended her to the breakfast room and watched every motion and manner of her perfectly poised form.

Before he could quite lose himself in her charm, however, Eleanor bounced into the room. Here was a bright merry girl, full of mischief, and dearly delighting to flirt and tease anyone who would give her the opportunity.

Eleanor was attractive and pretty in a different way from Polly. And now Jimmy found it hard to choose which of the two girls he preferred. Then before he could decide, Dodo came in.

Dodo was domineering in her grand beauty. She was so frank and sincere, too, that everyone liked her, but Jimmy felt afraid of her. The fact that she was the richest one of the girls, also caused him to fear to try his luck with her.

While he was considering all these facts, sweet pretty Ruth came in. Here was a type Jimmy fully understood. She was pensive and alluring, and her round baby-blue eyes appealed to his gallant heart. Her wavy chestnut hair and her dainty figure would look well when she received with Lady Osgood, thought he. And Ruth also had a fortune awaiting her because she was an only child. So he finally chose Ruth for his bride-to-be. And straightway he turned all his attention to her.

The young folks thoroughly enjoyed that morning while growing better acquainted with each other; and by noon, when the purr of an engine came to them from the driveway, they rushed to the front windows and crowded their pretty heads together, in order to see who was stopping at the house in this unusual season for London.

“My goodness! if it isn’t Ma in a splendiferous car!” exclaimed Dodo, laughing uncertainly at the sight.

Little Mr. Alexander sat behind the wheel, perfectly happy, there, with a black pipe between his lips. He was smoking like a factory chimney and his wife was not saying a word in protest. She sat beside him, trying to impress upon his mind some new rule or remembrance of etiquette that he had ignored.

“Now don’t forget, Eben,” she was heard to say. “We had it all done over for this very tour!”

And her husband grinned self-complacently as he looked at her, but he never admitted that she had any further authority to command him. He actually seemed to have gained some power over his wife that she dared not question.

The groom ran down the stone steps of the house and held open the door of the automobile while the lady got out, then Mr. Alexander locked the engine and followed her.

“No use talking, Ma is a wizard when she makes up her mind to do a thing,” said Dodo to her companions. “There’s a car, and there’s Pa driving it, so that shows it is just like our old one, or he couldn’t handle it so cleverly.”

The excitement caused by the appearance of the car that was to carry half of the party on the proposed tour, was the only thing that saved the Alexanders from discovery of the little plot. But Angela had taken notice of Dodo’s surprise and unconscious admission, and she soon ferreted out the fact that the Alexanders purchased the handsome large touring car that very morning. That it was up-to-date and of a sporty appearance, went without saying, for Mrs. Alexander would see to that, all right. And the fact that a fabulous price was paid for the new car solved the discovery made by Angela, for the price paid proved, to her satisfaction, that the Alexander fortune could easily stand a check like the one paid to the motor company.

At luncheon that day, Mrs. Alexander led the conversation without interruption. Sir James had gathered from his daughter that the car was a recent purchase, and he could approximate the sum paid for it. Now he felt relieved to find this American lady so willing to be the victim of his carefully-laid plans.

“I saw just the kind of roadster I want,” said she, “but I guess I won’t buy it until we get back from the tour. Ebeneezer says it will keep a couple of weeks, and I agreed with him. We’ll go on with the old car, now, and I’ll buy the new one, for myself, when we return.”

Sir James and Angela exchanged glances when they heard this woman speak of buying high-priced cars as glibly as she would mention buying a new glove.

“Well, I won a point out of this business, too,” chuckled Mr. Alexander. Everyone paid strict attention to what he was about to say, for he generally caused a general laugh with his remarks; and everyone liked him so genuinely that they would have listened eagerly whether he was amusing or contrariwise.

“Ebeneezer, remember what I told you just before we came in!” warned his wife.

“Yeh, but I’m not alone with you now, Maggie,” said he.

“Please don’t call me ‘Maggie,’ Eben. You know my name is ‘Margaret’,” cried Mrs. Alexander, beside herself at her husband’s shortcomings.

“Don’t worry, Maggie. Us folks know it is a pet name,” chuckled the little man. “But what I was goin’ to say, is: I won a hard fight whiles I was out this mornin’ with my wife. She’s promised to let me smoke my old pipe if I agree to drive the car just like she wants.”

His happy laugh was echoed by his friends, especially by the men who felt in sympathy with him. They say that a woman can never understand, because she cannot appreciate, the solace of an old pipe.

Then the interesting part of the programme of the tour began—the arrangement of the members of the party for the two cars.

“I say, let the girls go in my car, Pater, and let Mr. Alexander drive the adults,” suggested Jimmy, eagerly.

“Yes, that sounds very good, if the youngsters will agree to follow our advice carefully, and behave as if a chaperone was in the car with them,” added Sir James.

“Oh, so many chaperones in the second car will suffice,” laughed Nancy.

“You arrange matters so independently in America, that I suppose it will be all right, from your point of view,” admitted Lady Osgood, glancing at Angela for her opinion.

“Yes, and one young man with so many girls, must behave himself, you know. So everyone will see it is quite proper for us to travel without an older woman in the car.”

All this fuss about “Mrs. Grundy” made Dodo laugh, and she freely confessed how silly it all really was to a sensible girl.

The plans were perfected that they were to start on the tour early the following morning, driving southward from London and following the coast as far as Brighton. On the northward route they would travel as far as Holyhead and then cross to Ireland; then tour to the farthest northerly point on the Irish coast and cross over again to Scotland. And lastly, follow the automobile route to Edinburgh and southward again to London.

They figured that two weeks ought to be sufficient for this trip, but a few days more would not really make much difference, as Mr. Ashby could leave them at any time, if necessary, and go on to London by train.

That afternoon they used the two cars to drive about the city of London and visit the parks, and other famous sights. The exterior of The Tower of London, Nelson’s Monument in Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, the Museums and Art Galleries, and other noted places were seen on this drive, but the visiting of these individual buildings and their contents, was left until the return from the trip.

That night, Jimmy was carefully instructed as to his cue and part in this trip. Before he returned, he was to have proposed and been accepted by one of the rich girls he would have to choose from on the drive. There was not much difference between them, said his parents, but of the four girls, it was probable that Dodo had the most money and could be more agreeably handled, as her parents would prove to be easily influenced by the title.

CHAPTER IV—THE TOUR OF GREAT BRITAIN

“Jimmy,” called Mr. Fabian at one of the stops made to allow the girls to admire the view, “if it will not take us too far out of the way, I’d like to visit Hastings where the historical ruins can be seen. My students will there see several unique lines of architecture that can never be found elsewhere in these modern days.”

“All right, Prof.; and after that I can take you to see Pevensky Castle, another historic ruin,” returned Jimmy.

So they turned off, just before coming to Brighton, and visited the ruins of the castle said to have been built by William the Conqueror. Cameras were brought forth and pictures taken of the place, and then they all climbed back into the automobiles.

“Now for Pevensky Castle, near which William is said to have landed in 1066,” announced Jimmy, starting his car.

Fortunately, this day happened to be one of the visiting days at the old ruins, and they had no trouble in securing an entrance. Mr. Fabian and his interested friends found much to rejoice their hearts, in this old place; but Jimmy had persuaded Ruth to remain in the car with him, so that he could have her companionship to himself.

As Mrs. Alexander was the last adult to leave her new car, she saw Jimmy hold to Ruth’s hand and beg her to stay with him. This was contrary to her scheme of things, but she had to follow the rest of the party at the time. While she went, she planned how to get back immediately and frustrate any tête-à-tête of Jimmy’s, unless Dodo was the girl.

Mr. Alexander had settled himself down in his car for a nice little smoke with his pipe, as per agreement with his spouse, so he was not interested in the lover-like scene Jimmy was acting in the other car. But all this was changed when Mrs. Alexander suddenly returned from the ruins, and joined the two young people in Jimmy’s car.

“It’s so very tiresome to climb over tumbled down walls and try to take an interest in mouldy interiors,” sighed she, seating herself on the running-board of Jimmy’s car.

That ended Jimmy’s dreams of love for the time being, but in his heart the youthful admirer heartily cursed Dodo’s mother. She sat unconcernedly dressing her face with powder and rouge, then she lined up her eye-brows, and finally touched up her lips with the red stick. When the toilet outfit was put away in her bag, she sat waiting for the others to reappear from the castle, feeling that she had done her duty by her family.

At Chichester, the next stopping place on the route, Mr. Fabian led his friends to the old cathedral; as before, Jimmy had Ruth wait with him while the others went to inspect the old place. This time, Mrs. Alexander made no pretence of leaving, but remained on guard beside the young people. Jimmy gritted his teeth in baffled rage, but he could say nothing to the wily chaperone.

After the tourists got back in the motor-cars, Portsmouth, Porchester, Southampton and Christ Church were reeled off speedily. At Christ Church they stopped long enough to see the carved Gothic door at the north entrance, and the Norman architecture of the interior of the Priory—a famous place for lovers of the antique and ancient.

Ruth jumped out and went with her friends when they visited the Priory, and Jimmy had to console himself with a cigarette. Mrs. Alexander endeavored to enter into conversation with him, but he was too surly for anything.

That evening they reached Exeter, and stopped for the night at the New London Inn, a veritable paradise for the decorators of the party. Its public-room and bed-rooms were furnished with genuine old mahogany pieces centuries old. Settles, cupboards, and refectory tables stood in the main room downstairs, while old Sheraton tables, Chippendale chairs, ancient, carved four-posters, and highboys or lowboys, furnished the guest-chambers.

“Nolla, did you ever see so many lovely old things!” exclaimed Polly, as they admired one thing after another.

“I wish we could steal some of them,” ventured Eleanor, laughingly.

“Maybe the owner will sell some,” suggested Polly.

But Mr. Fabian learned later, that the inn-keeper was as great an enthusiast and collector of antiques as the Americans, and would not part for love or money, with any piece in his collection.

In the morning Mr. Fabian escorted his friends to the cathedral of Exeter, explaining everything worth while, as he went.

Jimmy had ascertained, the night previous, that Ruth purposed going with her friends, so he refused to get up in the morning, sending down word instead, that he felt bad. He hoped this might induce Ruth to remain and comfort him, but he learned later that she had gone gayly with the others, when they started out for the old edifice.

Shortly after the party left, a knock came upon Jimmy’s door and he gruffly called out: “Come in!”

Mrs. Alexander tip-toed in and immediately began to condole with him. “Poor Jimmy! I feel so concerned over you. Just let me mother you, if you are ill!”

Jimmy growled: “I’m not ill—just sleepy!”

“All the same, you dear boy, something must be troubling you to make you feel so ill-natured,” said she, pointedly.

“I should think it would!” snapped he, the patch-work quilt drawn up close about his chin so that only his face showed.

“Then do tell me if I can help in any way. My purse and heart are both wide open for you to help yourself, whenever you like.”

Jimmy was young, and had not yet realized that independence was a great privilege. But he had learned that poverty was not the virtue people called it. It meant doing without pleasant things, and constantly sacrificing what seemed most desirable. He knew Mrs. Alexander would buy her way into his good graces if she could, and he was just angry enough, and sulky at fate, to tempt him to take advantage of her offer. Even though he might regret it shortly after.

“Well, to confess—as I would to my own mother—I’m broke! And it’s no pleasant state of affairs on a long trip like this one, with a lot of pretty girls wanting to be treated to candy, and other things,” growled Jimmy.

“Poor dear boy!” sighed Mrs. Alexander, seating herself on the edge of the great antique bed, and patting his head. “Don’t I understand? Now let me be your other mother, for a while, and give you a little spending money. When it is gone, just wink at me and I will know you need more. If there were a number of young men to assume the expenses of treating the crowd of girls with you, I wouldn’t think of suggesting this. But I remember that you are but one with a galaxy of beauties who look for entertainment from you.”

Thus Mrs. Alexander cleverly managed to induce Jimmy to believe he was justified in taking her money, and as she got up to go out, she said: “I’ll leave a little roll on the dresser. If you feel able to get up and come out, you will see that you will feel better for the effort and the air.”

So saying, she left a packet under the military brushes on the dresser and, smiling reassuringly at the youth, went out. But she did not leave the closed door at once; she waited, just outside, until she heard him spring from the bed and rush over to the place where the money had been left. Then she nodded her head satisfactorily, and crept downstairs.

Jimmy counted out the notes left for him, and gasped. He hadn’t seen so much money at one time, since the war began! And he felt a sense of gratitude, then repulsion, to the ingratiating person who thus paid him for his good-will.

Mr. Fabian and his party were examining the old cathedral, with its two Norman towers and the western front rich with carvings, without a thought of the two they had left at the Inn. Having completed the visit to the edifice, they all returned to see the old inn known as “Moll’s Coffee-house.”

“It was at this famous place that many of England’s noted people used to gather,” said Mr. Fabian, as they crossed the green. “Sir Walter Raleigh was a frequent visitor here, as well as many historical men.”

As they came to the place, they found Mrs. Alexander and Jimmy seated on a worm-eaten bench, chatting pleasantly about the ancient room they were in. But no one knew that the conversation had been suddenly switched from a personal topic, the moment the sight-seers appeared to interrupt the tête-à-tête.

Mrs. Alexander got up and crossed the room to meet the other members in the party, saying as she came: “I hear how folks used to come here and drink coffee—and a record is kept of who they were. It must be nice to have folks remember you after you are gone. I wish someone would say, years after I am dead, ‘Mrs. Alexander was in this house, once’.”

“A lot of good that would do you, then!” laughed Dodo.

“I was just telling Jimmy that it would be a lot of satisfaction to us all if he became famous and this trip of ours was spoken of in years to come. He’s got a title in the family, you know, and the English think so much of that! The inn-keeper across the green might be glad to remember how Sir Jimmy stopped here when he toured England with his friends from America.”

Everyone laughed at the silly words but Mrs. Alexander was really in earnest. Her imagination had jumped many of the obstacles placed in her way, and she saw herself as Jimmy’s mother-in-law and revered as such by the English public.

During their tête-à-tête at Old Moll’s Coffee-house, she had impressed it upon Jimmy’s mind, that not a soul was to know about the money. And she extracted a promise that he would call upon her for more if he needed it. Feeling like a cad, still he promised, for he was in dire need of money to be able to appear like a liberal host.

“Well, Jimmy—are you ready to start along the road?” asked Angela, suspicious of this sudden change of front in Jimmy for the obnoxious rich woman.

“Yes, if Mrs. Alex and everyone else is,” agreed he.

“Mrs. Alex?” queried his sister, pointedly.

“Oh yes, folks! Dodo’s mother says ‘Alexander’ is such a lot to say, that she prefers us to cut it to Mrs. Alex. Every one else has nicknames, so why not nick Alexander?” said Jimmy.

The others laughed, and Mr. Alexander said quaintly: “I always liked that name Alexander ’cause it made me feel sort of worth while. I might be no account in looks, but ‘Alexander’ gives me back-bone, ’cause I only have to remember ‘Alexander the Great’!”

His friends laughed heartily and Mr. Fabian said: “What’s in a name, when you yourself are such a good friend?”

“Mebbe so, but all the same, I’ll miss that name. ‘Alex’ looks too much like a tight fit for my size. But I s’pose it’s got to be as the missus says!”

Now the cars sped through the charming country of rural England, with its ever-changing scenes, than which there is nothing more beautiful and peaceful. Cattle browsed upon the hillocks, tiny hamlets were spotlessly neat and orderly, the roads were edged with trimmed hedges, and even in the woods, where wild-plants grew, there was no débris to be found. It was all a picture of neatness.

On this drive, the girls were made happy by being able to buy several pieces of old Wedgwood from the country people. Polly also secured a chubby little bowl with wonderful medallions upon its sides, and Eleanor found a “salt-glaze” pitcher.

“I believe lots of the people in the country, here, will gladly sell odd bits if we only have time to stop and bargain,” said Polly, hugging her bowl.

“And lots of them will swear their furniture is genuine antique even if they bought it a year ago from an installment firm,” laughed Jimmy.

“Oh, they wouldn’t do that!” gasped Polly.

“Wouldn’t they! Just try it, and see how they rook your pocket-book,” retorted Jimmy.

“Why James Osgood! Where ever did you learn such words—‘rook’ and the like?” gasped his sister.

“Oh, I’m going to be a thorough American, now,” laughed Jimmy, recklessly. “Mrs. Alex has agreed to take me West with her on her return, and let me run a ranch in Colorado.”

“What will mother say to that?” wailed Angela, as this was not what she had hoped for.

“Don’t worry, Angela dear,” quickly said Mrs. Alexander, soothingly. “Jimmy is only joking. I told him about our ranches but I have no idea of taking him away from England.” Neither had she.

At Glastonbury the tourists stopped to see the “Inne of ye Pilgrims” which proved to be very old and most interesting. Here King Henry the VIII and Abbot Whiting’s rooms are maintained with the old furnishings as in that long-past day.

Pictures were taken of the quaint Gothic carving on the front of the building, and then Mr. Fabian led them to inspect the ruined abbey which King Arthur favored above all other spots.

As the cars sped over the good hard roads, past little cottages with the most attractive thatched-roofs whose dormer windows were set deep back in the thatch, the tourists were delighted.

“Such lovely little places,” sighed Ruth, as she admired the rose-vines climbing high upon the roof of a place.

“Just big enough for two!” whispered Jimmy, for his “heart’s desire” was beside him on the front seat, once more.

“I wonder why American architects do not copy these lovely thatched roofs for us, more generally,” wondered Polly.

“Our climate would not permit them,” explained Mr. Fabian. “In England, the damp warm climate seldom changes to bitter cold, and the inmates of these cottages live in comparative comfort in the winter. In the States, they’d be frozen out in no time.”

Bath was the next stop, and Mr. Fabian sought out the famous Abbey, at once. But Ruth had come under the spell of Jimmy’s ardor again, and remained with him when the others walked away. Mrs. Alexander sensed the plot and also remained behind. But Mr. Alexander called to her when she would have joined the two young ones.

“See here—don’t you go interferin’ there. If them two want to keep comp’ny why should you care?” whispered he.

“They won’t, that’s all. That young man is for Dodo!”

“Huh! Is that so? Well, don’t you think I got something to say in that case? Dodo takes who she wants, and no one else!”

“Don’t say a word! All you’ve got to do is to pay the bills! I’m doing this match-making and you needn’t help!” snapped his wife.

As she walked away, the little man nodded his head briskly and muttered: “We’ll see! We’ll see, missus!”

Mrs. Alexander found she could not beguile the two young folks into doing anything that included her, so she went towards the Abbey to meet Dodo upon her return. When they all came out, Dodo was with Polly and Eleanor, but her mother drew her away to one side and had her say.

“What do you s’pose I brought you over here for, Dodo? Not to gaze at tumbled down churches or to go nosing about musty old places where queer things are stuck up for folks to admire. No sir! I brought you here to find a peer, and now, with the one all ready-made and at hand, you leave him to Ruth Ashby—a girl not half as good-looking, or rich, as you!”

“See here, Ma,” retorted Dodo angrily; “I told you, before, that I didn’t want to marry anyone. Now that I’ve met Polly and Eleanor, and I know how fine a career will be, I am going to go in business, too.”

“Not if I know it! And your Pa worth a million dollars!” exclaimed the irate woman.

“Polly and Eleanor are worth a lot of money, too, but that makes work all the pleasanter. You don’t have to worry about bread and butter; and you can travel, or do all the things necessary to perfect yourself in your profession,” explained Dodo.

At that, the mother threw up her hands despairingly, and wailed: “To think I should live to see this day! An only child turning against her fond mother!”

“Pooh! You’re angry because I won’t toddle about and do exactly as you say about Jimmy and his title,” Dodo said, scornfully.

“But he loves you, Dodo, and you are breaking his heart.”

Dodo laughed. “He acts like it, doesn’t he? Now if you go on this way, Ma, I’ll run away and go back to the States. Once I am in New York, I’ll stay there and earn my own living.”

That silenced her mother. “Oh, Dodo! I never meant you to feel like that. I’ll never mention Jimmy again, if you’ll promise me you won’t speak of business in front of anyone else?”

“I’ll only promise to do what any sensible girl would do under the same circumstances, so there!” agreed Dodo. And her mother had to be content with that crumb of comfort.

After a good dinner at Bristol, Mr. Fabian sat poring over a road-map, deciding where next to go. While the elders in the party listened to him, the young folks followed Jimmy’s beckoning hand and crept away. They all jumped into the car and he drove off to celebrate the runaway.

That evening Jimmy spent money lavishly, and Angela’s suspicions were convinced: he had borrowed or taken it from Mrs. Alexander at one of their tête-à-têtes. But the girl said nothing; she was sorry for herself and James, and felt that these despicable rich westerners could easily part with some of their wealth.

It was past midnight when the merry party returned to the hotel, where mothers sat up to scold their daughters for such an escapade. Youth laughed at all such corrections, however, and then ran off to bed.

In the morning, no young member of the party was willing to get up and start on the road. Hence it was quite late when they got into the cars preparatory to touring again. Just as the signal was given for Jimmy to lead off, an old man ran up, wildly gesticulating.

“E’en hear’n say you folks like odd bits of old stuff. Coom with me and see my shaup daown in the lane.”

Mr. Fabian conversed with the old man for a few moments, and then asked the others if they cared to stop at the shop as they drove past. Everyone agreed, and the old man was asked to step up on the car and direct them where to go.

Finally they drew up before a place in the outskirts of Bristol—a veritable picture of a place. The one-story structure had its walls panelled in sections and the plaster of these sections was white-washed. The usual thatched roof and dormer windows topped the building, but the roses rambled so riotously up over the thatch, and greenish moss grew in spots, that the old place had a beautiful appearance.

Mr. Maxton rubbed his hands in delight, as he stood by and heard the cries of admiration from his visitors. He loved the old place and took a great pride in keeping it looking well.

Then they went indoors, leaving Jimmy and Mr. Alexander in the cars. The front room was crowded full of old china, lamps, silver and other curios, but Mr. Maxton led them directly to the rear room where the furniture was kept.

“Here be a rale Windsor chair you’ll like,” said he, moving forward a piece of furniture.

“My, Fabian! It must date back as early as 1690 to 1700,” whispered Mr. Ashby, as he examined the crown center of the flat head-rest that finished the comb-top at the back.

“It has the twisted upright rails at the back, and the turned rungs that go with that period,” admitted Mr. Fabian, down upon his knees to examine the chair.

“Girls, see that seat—scooped out to fit the body, but it is worn thin with age along its front edge; and even the arms and legs are splintered down from centuries of hard usage,” remarked Mr. Ashby.

While the two men and the dealer were bargaining over the chair, Mrs. Alexander wandered back to the front room. There she found Ruth upon her knees examining a wonderful, old carved chest.

“Isn’t this a darling, Mrs. Alex?” exclaimed the girl.

“What is it?” asked the woman, hardly interested.

“Why, it’s a fine old wedding-chest with exquisite panels on its front and sides. The carving, alone, is unusual.”

“A wedding chest, eh. What would you use it for?” asked Mrs. Alexander, taking a deeper interest in the article since the girl explained what the object was.

“Why, any girl would be glad to start a hope-chest with this,” laughed Ruth. “I’m going to ask Daddy to buy it for me, if it isn’t too costly.”

Mrs. Alexander’s fears took fire at that suggestive word, “hope-chest,” from Ruth, and she turned instantly to rejoin the dealer in the back room. He had just finished writing the directions for the shipping of the chair he had sold, when she hurried across the room.

“Mr. Maxton, you have a carved chest in the front room. I want to buy it—how much is it?” As she spoke, Mrs. Alexander took a purse out of her bag and displayed a roll of bills.

The clever dealer saw this opportunity to drive a good bargain, and he named his figure. Without demur, the lady counted down the money and asked for a receipt.

Meanwhile the others had gone to the front room to see the purchase Mrs. Alexander was making. She had shown no interest in antiques before, so this must be an exceptional piece to lure her money from her.

“Daddy, do come here and tell me if I may have this old chest?” called Ruth, still waiting beside the carved piece.

Then it became apparent that Ruth had wanted it for herself, but that Mrs. Alexander secured it. Everyone wondered why?

Well pleased with her purchase, the new owner of the chest came from the rear room and smiled complacently. Then she spoke to her daughter: “Dodo, when we go to Paris you can fill that old wedding chest with a trooso.”

“Oh yes? Whose is it, Ma?” asked the girl.

“Why yours, of course! That’s why I got it.”

“My very own! for keeps? Or are you only lending it to me?”

“Your very own, deary! I hope you’ll pass it along to the noble children I long to call my grandchildren, some day,” said Mrs. Alexander, sentimentally.

“I thank you, Ma, and I’ll put it to the best use I can think of. And I’ll pass it along—oh yes! but I doubt if grandchildren of yours ever see it,” laughed Dodo, with a queer look.

“I’m glad you got it, Dodo, because it is a lovely thing,” said Ruth to the fortunate owner, trying to hide her disappointment behind a smile.

“But you paid an outrageous price for it, Mrs. Alex,” said Mr. Fabian.

“Twice as much as he would have taken,” added Mr. Ashby.

“I don’t care what it cost. I’d have given ten times the price to have it for Dodo,” snapped Mrs. Alexander, not feeling the delight she had anticipated in the purchase.

Just then Mr. Alexander poked his bald head in at the doorway and said: “Ain’t you folks most ready to go on?”

“Come here, Ebeneezer! I want you to give that address of the hotel in Paris to this Mr. Maxton. I bought a chest for Dodo and he is to ship it there, so’s I can fill it when I arrive,” said Mrs. Alexander.

“Have I got the address?” stammered her husband.

“Of course! In that red-covered leather memorandum book.”

Mr. Alexander searched in his pockets and finally brought out a little book from his inside coat-pocket. He fumbled the pages as he sought for the needed address, and murmured so that the others could distinctly hear.

“H—um, what’s this? ‘Go to the barber’s for a clean shave every day—don’t forget.’ It ain’t that.” Then he turned to the next page, and squinted at the writing.

“‘Ne—ver use a knife at table when you eat—only to cut.’ It ain’t that page, nuther.”

His wife remonstrated, and he suddenly said: “Wait now—here it ’tis: ‘Don’t go in front of others unless you say ‘excuse me.’ Don’t sit down with ladies standing.’ Wall now, it ain’t on that page, either,” he remarked, but Mrs. Alexander grew annoyed when she saw the sympathetic smiles of their companions.

They recognized the “teacher’s” rules for their friend, and they felt sorry for his lot in life. Then she snapped out: “Can’t you find it in there, Eben?”

“No, b’ gosh! It ain’t down. All’s I can find is ‘don’ts and do’s’ what you told me.”

“Give me the book—I’ll find it,” demanded his wife. “You never could read your own writing.” And she took the book and quickly turned to the last page. Then she read off the address to the waiting dealer. This done she thrust the book back at her meek spouse.

“Well now! I never thought to look backwards first! I begun in the front of the book like I was taught at school,” said Mr. Alexander to his companions, in apology for his blunder.

The tourists finally got away from Bristol but they were too late to make Birmingham that night. So they planned to stop at Gloucester or Worcester, which ever was most convenient.

CHAPTER V—LOVE AFFAIRS AND ANTIQUES

“Well, that’s too bad—that we won’t be together—as I have a little gift for you and I hope you’ll like it.”

“Oh, Dodo! How nice of you. I really did not look for anything from anyone, you know,” cried Ruth, delightedly.

“Maybe not, dearie; and this isn’t much—not what you deserve, but it is a little remembrance, as you will find when you get it. I’m not going to give it to you until the day arrives, but when you open it you’ll understand everything that I can’t explain to you, now,” explained Dodo.

“Whatever it is, little or big, I will like it, Do, as coming from your generous heart. Even a flower from my friends is more than a jewel from someone who doesn’t mean it,” said Ruth.

“I know that, Ruth, and that’s why I want to give you something you’ll like. You are true blue, and you deserve all the joy one can give you.”

“It’s awfully good of you, Dodo, to say that,” smiled Ruth, although tears of pleasure welled up in her eyes.

The other girls had overheard the conversation and now they chimed in. “Dodo’s right, Ruth. You’re just fine!”

Later in the afternoon, Jimmy stopped his car at a tiny farmhouse with the spoken intention of getting a drink of water. But his subtle reason was to get Angela out of the front seat and Ruth in it. “Who wants a drink?” called he, as he jumped out and started for the cottage.

“I do!” cried Polly, getting out to go after him.

At the open door of the humble dwelling, the two looked in and saw the house-wife bending over a cook-stove, turning some doughnuts in a pan of hot fat. Jimmy waited until she had finished and then said: “May we have a drink, if you please?”

His smile and manner were very pleasing, and Polly saw how people fell before his winsome way. “Just a minute—I’ll draw some fresh cold water for you,” said the woman.

“Oh, do let me help you!” exclaimed Jimmy, whipping off his cap as he hurried through the room to carry the pail the woman had taken.

The two of them went out to the back-shed where the water ran, and filled the pail. Meanwhile, Polly gazed about the interior of the little house. She saw several objects which might be old pieces, so she wondered how she could get Mr. Fabian there to judge.

As Jimmy came in, carrying the pail, and the woman held a tin dipper for the tourists, he remarked as he passed the cook-stove: “My, how good those doughnuts smell.” And he sniffed.

“You shall hov some!” declared the woman, laughingly.

“Oh no! I couldn’t think of it,” objected Jimmy, hoping all the time to be persuaded into taking some.

“I knows what young boys’ appetites is like,” chaffed the woman, taking a large platter from the corner cupboard and piling a heap of doughnuts upon it.

Jimmy laughingly protested, but she waved him out and followed at his heels. When they reached the cars, she proffered the platter to the gentlemen first. Polly tried to get Mr. Fabian’s eye to tell him about the furniture in the cottage.

But his eyes were rivetted on the old Staffordshire platter that held the refreshments. He nudged Mr. Ashby and both men eagerly took the dish. As they gazed at it, and then passed it on to the ladies to help themselves first, they exchanged opinions.

“It’s the rare old blue that seems etched on the ivory glaze,” whispered Mr. Fabian.

“Where that came from, there may be more,” added Mr. Ashby, eagerly.

The platter had reached Mr. Alexander on its return trip to the men, when the little man took two doughnuts, one in each hand.

“Ebeneezer Alexander! How can you? Don’t you know what your red book says?” scolded his wife.

“I dun’t care, Maggie! I’m good and hongry and dunnits always was my temptation. These smell like your’n ust to before we got too rich for you to cook.”

Mrs. Alexander tried to hide the smile of satisfaction that tried to creep up into her face. She reached out her hand for one of his doughnuts, without saying a word. But Mr. Alexander moved away out of her reach.

He hurriedly held at arm’s length the hand that held one doughnut, while he took several great bites from the tidbit held in the other hand, lest his wife compel him to give up his treasure trove. The others laughed at him, and Mr. Ashby said:

“I don’t blame you, Mr. Alex. If our wives would cook, as once they did, we wouldn’t have to act so childishly when we travel.”

The platter was emptied and when the farmer’s wife turned to go back to her work, Mr. Fabian and Mr. Ashby insisted upon carrying the pail and dipper, to the amazement of those in the car. Polly understood and nudged Eleanor to follow, too.

“This is a very fine old dish, madam,” remarked Mr. Ashby.

“Oh yes, it’s a bit of old blue I’ve had in the kitchen for years. I remember how mother used to heap up this same plate with scones, for us chillern,” replied the woman, smiling at the platter.

“Are there many such pieces of blue in this section of the country?” asked Mr. Fabian, while Polly and her companions listened eagerly for the reply.

“Summat; but my gude mon stacked our’n up in the back-shed when us wanted to use the front cupboard for my new chiny.”

“Would you like to sell it?” was Mr. Ashby’s tense query.

“D’ye think it would be wuth summat? I’ do be thinking of laying by a few bits, this year, to buy us a wool carpet.”

“Perhaps we will buy some pieces and pay you as much as anyone else you might meet,” suggested Mr. Fabian.

As they entered the low-ceiled room of the cottage, the woman said: “Come out back and we won’t have to carry so far to the front room.”

She went through a tiny door that opened to the small lean-to, and then began taking all sorts of old dishes from the corner cupboard that her husband had constructed to hold the accumulation of generations. As the collectors saw choice pieces so carelessly handled they held their breaths in dread.

“Now this old blue belonged to my gran’faither afore it come down to us. He, and my faither after him, lived on this same farm. Us had no son so the home come to me as eldest of the family.”

As she spoke, the woman carried armfuls of dishes out to the table in the middle of the room. Some was worthless trash, but there were several pieces of rare Staffordshire, and some fine bits of old lustre-ware. In the last armful she carried to the table, were some valuable Wedgwood jugs and bowls.

“Us got an old pink set, in the front room, but us don’ use it now that us got a fine new chiny set,” said the woman, turning to go for a sample of the pink ware.

“You pick out what you want here, and I’ll go and see if the pink is genuine pink Staffordshire,” whispered Mr. Ashby.

So Mr. Fabian soon set aside all the real good pieces on the table, and in so doing noticed the table itself.

“Why!” gasped he to Polly, “I verily believe this is the real Hepplewhite!”

Instantly he began a close examination of it, and smiled as he examined. “With careful restoring you would have as fine a Hepplewhite as any in America,” he said to Polly.

“Oh, then do let us take it!” exclaimed Polly, eagerly.

The table started them examining other broken down, or criminally painted, objects of furniture in the shed, and when Mr. Ashby returned, carrying a plate of pink Staffordshire, those who had remained behind in the shed were greatly elated over something.

“Oh, Mr. Ashby! just see what we found!” cried Polly.

“While you were away I discovered a Hepplewhite table, Ashby,” explained Mr. Fabian. “And Polly got the girls to help remove all the paint-pots and trash from this bureau to make sure it was what she thought. Look!”

Mr. Ashby was taken over to the little bureau which had been used for a catch-all for years. Its drawers were over-flowing with rags and garden-tools, but nothing could hide the true lines of a genuine Sheraton piece.

“Well I never! To think such a gem should be so treated!” murmured Mr. Ashby.

The others laughed delightedly at his amazement. But the owner now joined them again, and Mr. Fabian began bargaining.

“Are you satisfied with the prices paid you for the old china?” asked he, as an introduction to further dealing.

“Oh my! Us begin to see that wool carpet,” laughed she.

“Would you sell this old table and bureau?” continued he.

“Them! I should say so!” retorted she, emphatically.

Instantly a price was offered and eagerly accepted between the two, and the table and bureau became the property of Polly and Eleanor. As Mr. Ashby said: “The basis of your business-to-come.”

Dodo had found some old brass candlesticks and a china group that proved to be old Dresden. These she hugged tightly as they all left the cottage followed by the blessings of the woman.

“My goodness! see what’s coming?” laughed Jimmy, as he watched the five collectors file down the pathway, each one loaded with china.

“Where do you expect us to sit?” added Mrs. Fabian.

“On the running-board, to be sure,” retorted her husband.

“Yes, because this fine blue takes precedence over modern objects, even though they be mortals,” chuckled Mr. Ashby.

“You-all just ought to see the pink set Mr. Ashby got!” exclaimed Dodo, intensely interested in this quest of the antique.

Mrs. Alexander noted the bright eyes and flushed face, and determined to keep Dodo away from such dangerous interests.

“And the old table and bureau that Nolla and I got for a song!” cried Polly, also highly pleased with the purchases.

“Best of all, that good woman is so happy to know she is able to get the ‘wool carpet’ she has wanted for years, that her blessings will travel with us for many a year to come,” added Mr. Fabian, turning to wave his hand at the farmer’s wife as she stood in the doorway waving her apron at the tourists.

After the dishes were safely stowed away, Angela was induced to give her place, in the first car, to Mr. Fabian, so that he could talk to the other girls about the relative values of china.

Angela took no interest in these matters, so she willingly climbed in with the elders in the second car; and Mr. Fabian began a dissertation on blue, pink and brown Staffordshire; gold, silver, and bronze, or copper lustre-ware; Wedgwood, Derby, and Worcester ware, and salt-glaze—which was finest of all when it was genuine antique.

Jimmy had grown very impatient while waiting at the farmhouse and when Angela exchanged seats with Mr. Fabian to permit him to lecture the girls on china, the young man frowned. Finally he became so irritated at what he considered “bally mush,” and not being able to flirt with Ruth who sat in the back seat, he ran the car through all the ruts and over all the rocks he found in the way. This shook up the passengers uncomfortably and interrupted the flow of eloquence from Mr. Fabian. But he and his girls were so absorbed in the subject that they never dreamed the roughness of the road could have been avoided by discontented Jimmy.

Angela, sitting beside Mrs. Alexander, made the most of her opportunity. She managed to ferret out just how much money Dodo would inherit, and what Mrs. Alexander might be persuaded to do for an acceptable husband for the girl. So cleverly was this information secured that the informer failed to realize she was being “put through the third degree.”

Angela was a sweet pretty girl but had experienced so many unpleasant sacrifices since her father’s tremendous losses that she had grown callous to all higher feelings. Her sole ambition, now, was to secure her future either by Jimmy’s marriage to money, or by her own escape from the bondage of poverty by marriage.

She fully realized that most desirable young men in England were in the same position as her father and brother, hence she had not much choice of escape that way. But with Jimmy—upon him rested the salvation of the family and its debts.

Mr. Fabian was still talking “antiques” when the cars reached Gloucester, so Jimmy steered through, by way of side streets, and then drove through the famous cotswolds, on the way to Worcester.

A few miles this side of Worcester, Polly spied a very old-looking house standing under a group of giant trees which must have been hundreds of years old.

“Oh, I just know there will be old pieces in that place!” exclaimed she, leaning forward eagerly.

“Stop, Jimmy! Oh, do make him stop, Prof!” cried Eleanor.

“Do!” added Dodo. “We are almost in Worcester, anyway, so a few minutes more won’t matter.”

“Everyone is so tired with the drive, I don’t see why we must halt again,” complained Mrs. Alexander, impatiently.

“Suppose your car drives on, then, and we will stop to inquire if we can secure any old things,” suggested Mr. Fabian.

But no one wanted to do this, so both cars stopped while the two men and the girls went to the house. This time no subterfuge was used, but the question was plainly asked:

“Do you happen to have any old dishes for sale?”

“And furniture?” added Polly, anxiously.

The surprised woman laughed at the unusual query, but she nodded and said: “I got some black china, and several queer bowls and pots that I might sell—if you make it wuth while.”

The collectors all filed into the cottage, then, and the impatient travellers left in the cars had to cool their tempers well, before they saw their friends appear again. When they did come forth, however, they brought with them several old tobys, a few bowls, a number of pieces of black Staffordshire, an old knife-box of fine inlaid work, a mahogany dressing-mirror exquisitely stencilled and a knitted bed-coverlet with raised roses and scalloped edges.

“Oh now! This is expecting too much of Job!” called Mrs. Ashby, when she saw the consternation expressed on Jimmy and his sister’s faces.

“When we started on this tour you never said a word about founding a second-hand business,” added Mrs. Fabian, secretly amused at the collectors, and the chagrin so evident on the faces of their two “English cousins.”

“One never can tell what will happen when you take fanatics on a trip,” retorted Mr. Ashby, depositing his burden on the ground beside the car.

Then began another exodus of the passengers until a complete readjustment of all the various purchases could be made. While the two men were carefully packing away the precious objects, Polly said: “We had to leave behind the best piece of all—a chair of satin-wood with daintily turned legs and rungs. But they were splintered and the rush seat was broken through.”

“Don’t forget, Polly, that the thing that counted most—the beautifully stencilled back slats with their fruit and roses as clear as the day they were done, was in good preservation,” added Eleanor.

“Then why didn’t you buy it?” snapped Angela, angrily.

“Oh, we did!” replied Dodo. “At least, I did. But I couldn’t carry it out, so it will have to be shipped home when the other things go.”

“You got it?” cried her mother. “What for?”

“For my shop, of course. I’m going into decorating, too, and open a fine place of business,” giggled Dodo, tantalizingly.

“Not on my money! You’ve got to make a good match over here,” commanded her mother.

Little Mr. Alexander had not had much chance to speak during the day, as antiques and talks on such subjects were not in his line. But now he scented battle on his own preserves, and he threw out his chest and thrust his hands deep into his trouser pockets—a habit he had when he wished to impress his wife.

“Well, now, mebbe Dodo can’t open shop on your money, Maggie, but she can on mine! If she wants to do that ruther’n get spliced to a furriner, who’s going to stop her, I’d like to know!”

That effectually ended the tirade for the time being, and when everybody was seated again, Jimmy was made supremely happy to find Ruth beside him, once more.

The only subject that interested the majority of the tourists that evening, after dinner, was the discussion of the various pieces purchased that day, and the examination of them. Mr. Ashby and Mr. Fabian knew so much about collections of antiques that the stories they told were most interesting to the girls.

But Jimmy and Mrs. Alexander were bored to death by the conversation, so that they soon made their way out of the hotel, in search of distraction. Not long after they had escaped from the company of the others, another packet of bills passed from Mrs. Alexander’s hands to the young man’s pockets. But it was a personal matter that concerned no one but themselves, said she, and Jimmy anxiously agreed to the condition.

“Of course you know, Mrs. Alex, that nothing on earth could make me accept this gift from you, if matters with the Pater were not awfully tangled, this year,” explained Jimmy, hurriedly.

“Don’t mention it, dear boy! I’m so glad I can give it to one I think so highly of. Some day you will be able to do a good turn for me,” replied Mrs. Alexander, affably.

Jimmy understood too well, both from Angela and Mrs. Alexander, what was expected of him, but he hadn’t a thought for Dodo, because he was infatuated with Ruth. And she, nice little girl, hadn’t a fortune to bless him with. So he forced the future still further into the background, and took the money that was offered him, the while he basked in Ruth’s sunny smiles.

In the morning the cars started for Birmingham, which was on the road to Lichfield. But the city was smoky and uninviting because of its factories and filth, so they chose a side-road that would bring them to the beautiful edifice that makes Lichfield a Mecca for lovers of the ancient and rare.

The cathedral, from a distance, looks like a fret-work of finest lace. And as one draws nearer, its patterns show up clearer, until one is quite close, when the outlined designs on the front of the building compel even the indifferent to stand and gaze in admiration.

Mr. Fabian pointed out the marvellous sculpturing of the arch, the tiers of niches with their protected figures, the two spires and other beauties, then he led his friends inside the cathedral. Here they saw the ancient Bible with its illuminated and designed pages, and then they visited the Chapter House.

Upon seeing the others follow Mr. Fabian indoors, Mr. Alexander remarked jocularly: “I’m afraid of visitin’ so many churches, ’cause the good I get will cure me smokin’ my old pipe. And I woulden’ go back on that old pal for all the cathedrals in this wurrold.”

They left him sitting on the running-board, contentedly puffing at the black “evil” aforementioned; but when they all came forth, again, Mr. Alexander was nowhere to be seen.

After shouting and searching for ten minutes, or more, he was still absent and the natives could not say that they had even seen him about.

“I knew how it would be if Ebeneezer came to Europe!” exclaimed Mrs. Alexander, impatiently.

“Pa is able to take care of himself, never worry,” added Dodo.

“But he is always cutting such capers,” complained his wife. “One minute he’s here, and the next he isn’t!”

The remark caused a general smile and Mrs. Alexander thought she had said something very clever, so she smiled, too. Perhaps the smile made her feel better-natured, for she joined the men when they resumed their search for the missing man.

Jimmy went to the authorities to question what had best be done about the matter of finding Mr. Alexander; the other two men had gone in opposite directions to ask natives if they had seen such a man as they described and the women walked about, calling aloud or poking under shrubs, and back of cottages, where he might have taken a nap.

Finally a little man sauntered from the cathedral and stood gazing about in surprise at the ladies—they acted so queerly. He began loading his pipe from the old tobacco pouch and as he called out to his friends who were scattered far and wide, they looked up and started for him.

“Where have you been? You’ve made the most trouble—losing yourself in this ridiculous way!” scolded his wife.

“Why, I wasn’t lost! I kind’a thought it was wicked in me to sit with my pipe when I oughter be seeing that church, so I tucked away my old friend and follered you-all. I hunted most an hour for you-all, but I diden’ see hide ner hair of anyone I knew. But I did see a lot of figgers stuck up in the walls, and a lot of folks starin’ at ’em. So I come along out again.”

His description made everyone, but his wife, laugh. She shook her head despairingly at such behavior, and refused to look at her spouse for the rest of the day. But that seemed not to dampen his feelings a whit. Rather he felt relieved, he said.

From Lichfield the cars turned due west and drove to Wolverhampton. While driving through Wales, the tourists found great entertainment in trying to converse with the Welshmen they met along the road.