"So she is, my dear," agreed the old man as he gazed with undisguised admiration into Miss Sallie's smiling face.

"Do sit down," said Miss Sallie, slightly confused, "and tell us where you have been, and what you have been doing these last three decades."

"It would take too long, I fear," replied the major, looking at his watch. "I am looking for my two nephews this morning."

"You mean Martin's sons, I suppose?" asked Miss Sallie.

"Yes, they are coming down to stay with me at my old place, back yonder in the hills. They are bringing one or two friends with them, and we shall motor over this afternoon if the weather permits. But tell me, what are you doing here? Spending the summer? Don't you find it a little dull, young ladies?"

"Oh, we are just on a motor trip, too," replied Ruth. "We are birds of pa.s.sage, and stop only as long as it pleases us."

"And have you no men along, to look after you and protect you from highwaymen, or mend the tires when they are punctured?"

"My dear Major," replied Miss Sallie, "you have been away from America for so long that you are old-fashioned. Do you think these athletic young women need a man to protect them? I a.s.sure you that the world has been changing while you have been burying yourself in Russia and j.a.pan.

Ruth, here, is as good a chauffeur as could be found, and Barbara Thurston can protect herself and us into the bargain. She rides horseback like a man." Barbara blushed at the memory of the stolen horseback ride on the way to Newport. "Grace and Mollie are a little bit more old-fashioned, perhaps, and I am as helpless as ever. But two are quite enough. They have got us out of every sc.r.a.pe so far, the two of them."

The girls all laughed.

Only Barbara, who was leaning on the railing facing the window, saw a figure move behind the curtain, which had stood so still she had not noticed it before.

"Since you are off on a sort of wild goose chase for amus.e.m.e.nt," began the major (here the figure that was slipping away paused again), "couldn't you confer a great honor and pleasure on an old man by making him a visit?"

"Oh!" cried the girls, breathless with delight, remembering the automobile full of youths that would shortly appear.

"Now, Miss Sallie, you see they all want to come," continued the major.

"Don't, I beg of you, destroy their pleasure and my happiness by declining this request of my old age."

"Oh, do say yes, Aunt Sallie!" cried Ruth.

And still Miss Sallie hesitated. She had a curious smile on her face as she looked out over the hills and meadows beyond.

"It's an interesting old place, Sallie," continued the major. "It was built by my Dutch ancestors, a charming old house that has been added to from time to time. I would like to see it full of young faces once more.

What do you say, Sallie? Won't you make us all happy? The boys and me, and the girls, too? For I can see by their faces they are eager to come."

"How far is it from here, John," asked Miss Sallie, doubtfully. "Is it anywhere near those dreadful forest fires?"

"It is fifteen miles back in the country, and I have heard no rumor of any fires in that vicinity lately. The boys and I are leaving this afternoon. We will see that everything is ship-shape, and you and the girls could follow to-morrow. I have an excellent housekeeper. She and her husband were a young couple when I went away, and they have lived at the place ever since. I am certain she can make you comfortable. I will give Miss Ruth explicit directions about the route. It is a fairly good road for motoring. We have a fine place for dancing there, young ladies.

There's a famous floor in what, in my grandmother's time, we used to call the red drawing-room. There are dozens of places for picnics, pretty valleys and creeks that I explored and knew intimately in my youth. I have some good horses in my stables, Miss Barbara, if you have a fancy for riding," he continued, turning to Barbara with such grace of manner that she blushed for pleasure.

Looking from one eager face to another, and finally into the major's kindly gray eyes, Miss Sallie melted into acquiescence and the party was made up forthwith.

The major then pointed out to Ruth and Barbara the street they were to take, which would lead to the road to his old home. He drew a map on a piece of paper, so that they could make no mistake.

"When you come to the crossroads," he added, as a parting caution, "take the one with the bridge, which you can see beyond. The other road is roundabout and full of ruts besides."

Just then the horn of an automobile was heard, as a large touring car containing four young men and a deal of baggage, drew up in front of the hotel. At the same time, Barbara, who was still facing the window, saw the figure on the other side of the curtain steal quietly away.

Major Ten Eyck went forward to meet the newcomers, and he and his two nephews had a little earnest conversation together for a few moments.

The young men looked up, saw Miss Sallie and the girls, and all four caps came off simultaneously.

"Please don't go yet," called the major, as Miss Stuart rose to leave.

"I want to introduce the boys first."

Stephen and Martin Ten Eyck were handsome, st.u.r.dy youths, with clear cut features. The two visitors were far different in type; one, Alfred Marsdale, a young English friend, who was spending the summer with the Ten Eycks, and the other, Jimmie Butler, who seemed to have come from nowhere in particular but to have been everywhere.

"And now come along, boys," urged the major, after he had given the young people a chance to talk a few minutes. "These ladies want their ride, I know, and we must be off for the hall before it gets too hot for endurance."

With a last caution to Ruth about the proper road to Ten Eyck Hall, and a reminder to Miss Stuart not to break her promise, the major ushered his boys into the hotel office, while "The Automobile Girls" went up to their rooms.

"Isn't this perfectly jolly, girls?" called Ruth from the mirror as she pinned on her hat.

"De-lighted!" exclaimed Barbara and Mollie, joining the others.

"And listen, girlies, dear! Did you scent a romance?" whispered Ruth.

"It certainly looked very much like one," replied Barbara.

"They were engaged once," continued Ruth, "but they had some sort of lovers' quarrel. The poor major tried to make it up, but Aunt Sallie wouldn't forgive him, and he went away and never came back, except for flying trips on business. Until to-day she has never seen or heard from him."

"But she must have cared some, because she didn't marry anyone else,"

observed Mollie reflectively.

"I wonder what he did," pondered Grace.

"Flirted with another girl," answered Ruth. "Papa has often told me about it. Aunt Sallie had another lover, at the same time, who was very rich. She kept the two of them dangling on, and it was because she went driving with the other lover that Major Ten Eyck paid devoted attention to some other girl, one night at a ball. So they quarreled and separated."

"Poor old major!" sighed tender-hearted Mollie.

"But she _did_ have her rocking chair adventure after all," laughed Barbara, as they started downstairs in obedience to Miss Sallie's tap a few moments before.

The lovely vistas of valley and river, with intersecting hills, were softened into dream pictures by a transparent curtain of mist, which hid the parched look of the foliage from the long drought.

The five automobilists sped along over smooth roads between splendid estates. Most of the great houses were screened by stretches of thickly wooded parks, and each park was guarded by a lodge, after the English fashion. But there were plenty of charming old houses in full view of the pa.s.serby-rambling, comfortable homes set down on smooth lawns.

"How beautiful all this is!" sighed Mollie, as she leaned back in her seat and gazed down the long avenue of trees.

"Yes," called Ruth over her shoulder. "I took the longest way to the church, because this road is so pretty."

"Here's the lane to Sleepy Hollow," cried the ever-watchful Barbara, and the automobile turned into a country road that appeared to lead off into low-lying hills beyond.

"What is that cloud of dust behind us," demanded Miss Sallie, looking back.

"It's a man on a motor cycle," replied Grace. "He is turning in here, too, but he is slowing up. I suppose he doesn't want to give us a dusting. Rather nice of him, isn't it?"

"Fancy a motor cycle and a headless horseman riding in the same lane,"

observed Ruth.

"Well, if it came to a race," replied Barbara, "I think I would take the motor cycle. They do go like the wind."