Page:Dave Porter at Oak Hall.djvu/34

22 building in which was kept the fine thirty horse-power automobile which had recently been purchased.

The Wadsworth family consisted of the gentleman and his wife and one child, a daughter named Jessie, aged about twelve. They had had a son, but the boy had been drowned in the river when ten years old. This loss grieved Mrs. Wadsworth very much, and she went out into society but rarely.

As Dave entered the wide-open gateway leading to the grounds he heard a peculiar chug-chug coming from in front of the building where the automobile was kept. The man in charge, who was also the Wadsworth coachman, was getting the machine in order for use on the road. He had promised to take Jessie out for a ride of fifteen or twenty miles, and the little miss was standing by, wraps in hand, waiting impatiently for the start.

"John, what makes you so long?" she asked, with a little pout. "You've been working now nearly half an hour."

"Can't help it, Miss Jessie," returned the hired man. "There seems to be something the matter with the flow of gasoline, or else this electric spark don't act right. I reckon I've got to tighten those screws a bit more."

"I thought automobiles ran easily," went on Jessie, shaking back her golden curls. "We might be miles away by this time."