The Lightning Conductor | Page 2

disagreeable things.
By the time we were half through lunch I was envying him his car, and
feeling as if life wasn't worth living, because I couldn't have it to play
with. I asked if I could buy one like it, but he was very discouraging.
He had had his fitted up with lots of expensive improvements, and it
didn't pay the firm to make cars like that for the public, so I would have
to order one specially, and it might be months before it could be
delivered. I was thinking it rather inconsiderate in him to work me up
to such a pitch, just to cast me down again, when he mentioned, in an
incidental way, that he intended to sell his car, because he had ordered
a racer of forty horse-power.
I jumped at that and said, "Why not sell it to me?"
You ought to have seen Aunt Mary's face! But we didn't give her time
to speak, and gasps are more effectual as punctuations than
interruptions.
Her Duke was too much moved to pause for them. He hurried to say
that he hoped I hadn't misunderstood him. The last thought in his mind

had been to "make a deal." Of course, if I really contemplated buying a
car, I must see a great many different kinds before deciding. But as it
seemed I had never had a ride on an automobile (your fault, Dad--your
only one!), he would be delighted to take us a little spin in his car.
Before Aunt Mary could get in a word I had accepted; for I did want to
go. And what is Aunt Mary for if not to make all the things I want to do
and otherwise couldn't, strictly proper?
Anyhow, we went, and it was heavenly. I know how a bird feels now,
only more so. You know, Dad, how quickly I make up my mind. I take
that from you, and in our spin through beautiful lanes to a delightful
hotel called--just think of it!--the "Hautboy and Fiddle," at the village
of Ockham, I'd had quite time enough to determine that I wanted the
Duke's car, if it could be got.
I said so; he objected. You've no idea how delicate he was about it, so
afraid it might seem that he had taken advantage. I assured him that, if
anything, it was the other way round, and at last he yielded. The car
really is a beauty. You can put a big trunk on behind, and there are
places for tools and books and lunch, and no end of little things, in a
box under the cushions we sit on, and even under the floor. You never
saw anything so convenient. He showed me everything, and explained
the machinery, but that part I forgot as fast as he talked, so I can't tell
you now exactly on what principle the engine works. When it came to a
talk about price I thought he would say two thousand five hundred
dollars at least (that's five hundred pounds, isn't it?) for such a splendid
chariot. I know Jimmy Payne gave nearly twice that for the one he
brought over to New York last year, and it wasn't half as handsome;
but--would you believe it?--the man seemed quite shy at naming one
thousand five hundred dollars. It was a second-hand car now, he
insisted, though he had only had it three months, and he wouldn't think
of charging more. I felt as if I were playing the poor fellow a real
Yankee trick when I cried "Done!"
Well, now, Dad, there's my confession. That's all up to date, except that
the Duke, who isn't a duke, but plain Mr. Reginald Cecil-Lanstown
("plain" seems hardly the word for all that, does it?) is to bring my car,

late his, to Claridge's on Monday, and I'm to pay. You dear, to have
given me such an unlimited letter of credit! He's got to get me a
chauffeur who can speak French and knows the Continent, and Aunt
Mary and I will do the rest of our London shopping on an
automobile--my own, if you please. Then, when we are ready to cross
the Channel, we'll drive to Newhaven, ship the car to Dieppe, and after
that I hope we shan't so much as see a railroad train, except from a long
distance. Automobiles for ever, say I, mine in particular.
I'm writing this after we have come back to Cobham, and while we wait
for the fly which is to take us to the station. Aunt Mary says I am mad.
She is quite "off" her Duke now, and thinks he is a fraud. By the way,
when that photo is developed I'll send it to you, so that you can