"I ax yer pardon, I'm sure, Dianthy," he added
shamefacedly, when the mare had dropped to a position more nearly
normal; "but I hain't no use fur them 'ere contraptions!"
Diantha frowned. She was frightened--and because she was frightened she
was angry. She said the first thing that came into her head--and never
had she spoken to Phineas so sharply.
"If you did have some use for 'em, Phineas Hopkins, you wouldn't be
crawlin' along in a shiftless old rig like this; you'd have one yourself
an' be somebody! For my part, I like 'em, an' I'm jest achin' ter ride
in 'em, too!"
Phineas almost dropped the reins in his amazement. "Achin' ter ride in
'em," she had said--and all that he could give her was this "shiftless
old rig" that she so scorned. He remembered something else, too, and his
face flamed suddenly red. It was Colonel Smith who owned and drove that
automobile, and Colonel Smith, too, was a bachelor. What if--Instantly
in Phineas's soul rose a fierce jealousy.
"I like a hoss, myself," he said then, with some dignity. "I want
somethin' that's alive!"
Diantha laughed slyly. The danger was past, and she could afford to be
merry.
"Well, it strikes me that you come pretty near havin' somethin' that
wa'n't alive jest 'cause you had somethin' that was!" she
retorted.
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