Steve and the Steam Engine

by Sara Ware Bassett

  CHAPTER V

  STEVE LEARNS A SAD LESSON

  No more disasters attended the journey and the travelers spun swiftly onto Northampton, arriving at the old New England town late in theafternoon. What a scene of activity the college campus presented! Beviesof girls, hatless and in gay-colored sweaters, drifted hither andthither, their laughter floating through the twilight with musicalclearness. Occasionally some newcomer would join a group and a shout ofwelcome would hail her advent. Although Steve turned away from thesegushing greetings with masculine scorn nevertheless he was far moreinterested in the novel picture than he would have been willing toadmit. More than once he caught his eyes following a slender figure inwhite, across whose hair the sunset slanted, turning its blowing massesto a glory of gold. With what ease and freedom the girl moved! And when,as she passed, some one unceremoniously tossed her a ball and she caughtit with swift accuracy, his admiration was completely won.

  Steve speculated as to whether she would prove to be as pretty at closerange as she was at a distance and decided not. Distance always bringsa glamor with it. However, pretty or not, there was no disputing thatshe was a great favorite for every circle of students opened its magicring at her approach and greeted her with a noisy clamor of affection.That she held herself with quiet reserve and was less demonstrative thanthose about her did not appear to lessen in the least their regard forher, and as Stephen watched he registered the wager that she was aperson of more common sense than most girls.

  Until recently it had been his habit to condemn the entire sex; but oflate he had discovered that exceptions might be made to his rule. Therewere girls in the world worth noticing, even some worth talking to; andhe felt certain that this attractive creature in white was one of them.However, it was an absurdity to be thinking about her now and quitebeneath his dignity. But he meant sometime, when he could do so incasual fashion, to find out from Doris who she was. He had a curiosityto know what this person who looked as if she could row a boat, swim,and play tennis well, was called. Doris was always raving about herroommate, Jane Harden. She had said so much about her that he fairlydetested the sound of her name. Now if only Jane Harden were a girl likethis one, there would be some reason and excuse for being enthusiasticover her. To have this guest brought home to spend the Christmasholidays would be a pleasure to look forward to. How well she wouldskate and how gracefully; and how pretty she would be, especially ifshe had her hat off as she had now!

  It was Doris who interrupted his reverie with the words:

  "I hate to have you dear people go but I suppose you will have to. Butdo just wait long enough for me to see if I can't find Jane somewhere.She is crazy to meet my family and will scold me to death if I let youget away."

  "I am afraid we can't stay but a moment or two, dear," objected Mrs.Tolman. "It is growing late, you know, and we must get to the hotelbefore it is too dark."

  "But I won't delay you a second, Mother--truly, I won't. I do want youto meet Jane. I'll ask the girls if they have seen her anywhere."

  "If you get out into that mob they'll fall all over you and you'll neverget back," growled Steve, who was beginning to feel hungry and was nonetoo graciously inclined toward the prospective stranger.

  "Oh, yes, I will," laughed Doris as she darted away.

  In spite of this sanguine prediction, however, she did not return aspromptly as she had promised, and Mr. Tolman began to fidget uneasily.

  "We really ought to be starting on," he said at last. "Where is thatchild?"

  "I knew she'd stop to admire everybody's new hat and talk over the wholesummer," grumbled Steve scornfully.

  "You are thinking of your dinner, son," his mother put in playfully.

  "You bet I am! I'm hungry as a bear."

  A pause followed in which visions of a big beefsteak with crisply friedpotatoes blotted out every other picture from Steve's mind.

  "Perhaps we ought not to have waited," he heard his mother murmur. "ButI had not the heart to disappoint Doris. She is so fond of Jane and hastalked so much about her! I had no idea it would take her so long to--"

  "Here she comes!" Mr. Tolman broke in.

  Stephen glanced up. Yes, there was Doris hurrying across the grass andbeside her, walking with the same free and buoyant swing, was the girlof the golden hair,--Jane Harden.

  With the same reserve and yet without a shadow of self-consciousness shecame forward and in acknowledgment of the hurried introductions extendedher hand with a grave smile of welcome; but both smile and gesturecarried with them a sincerity very appealing. When she greeted Steve heflushed at being addressed as _Mr. Tolman_ and mentally rose six inchesin his boots. Yes, she was decidedly pretty, far prettier than she hadbeen in the distance even. In all his life he had never seen a moreattractive girl.

  "I hope, Jane, that you are coming home with Doris for a visit sometimewhen your own family can spare you," he heard his mother say. "We allshould like to have you."

  "And I should like to come," was the simple and direct answer.

  "Do plan on it then. Come any time that you can arrange to. We shouldvery much enjoy having you, shouldn't we, Stephen?"

  Stephen, so suddenly appealed to, turned very red and answered "Yes" ina tone that seemed to come gruffly from way down inside his chest, andthen to the sound of hasty farewells the car started and shot out intothe village street and the campus with its rainbow-hued occupants waslost to sight.

  "A charming girl, isn't she?" Mrs. Tolman said to her husband. "Sonatural and unaffected! Doris says that she is quite the idol of thecollege and bids fair to be class president. I wish Doris would bringher home for the holidays."

  Inwardly Steve echoed the sentiment but outwardly he preserved silence.He was too human a boy to dwell long on thoughts of any girl and soonJane Harden was quite forgotten in the satisfaction of a steaming dinnerand a comfortable bed, and the fairy journey of the next day when amid asplendor of crimson and gold the glories of Jacob's Ladder and theMohawk Trail stretched before his eyes.

  Within the week the big red car headed for Coventry and without a mishaprolled into the familiar main street of the town which never had seemeddearer than after the interval of absence. As the automobile sped past,friendly faces nodded from the sidewalks and hands were waved ingreeting. Presently his mother called from the tonneau:

  "Isn't that the Taylors' car, Henry, coming toward us? If it is do stop,for I want to speak to them."

  Mr. Tolman nodded and slowed down the engine, at the same time puttingout his hand to bring the on-coming car to a standstill. Yes, there werethe Taylors, and on the front seat beside the chauffeur sat "But," thefriend who had been most influential in coaxing Stephen into the dilemmaof the past fortnight. It was Bud, Steve could not forget, who had beenthe first to drop out of the car when trouble had befallen and who hadled the other boys off on foot with him to Torrington. The memory of hischum's treacherous conduct still rankled in Steve's mind. He had notspoken to him since. But now here the two boys were face to face andunless they were to betray to their parents that something was wrongthey must meet with at least a semblance of cordiality. The question waswhich of them should be the first to make the advance.

  Twice Bud cleared his throat and appeared to be on the verge of utteringa greeting when he encountered Stephen's scowl and lost courage to callthe customary: "Ah, there, Stevie!"

  And Stephen, feeling that right was on his side and being too proud toopen the conversation, could not bring himself to say: "Hi, Bud!" as healways did.

  As a result the schoolmates simply glared at each other.

  Fortunately their elders were too much occupied with friendly gossip tonotice them and it was not until the talk shifted abruptly into achannel that appalled both boys that their glance met with the sympathyof common danger.

  It was Bud's mother from whose lips the terrifying words innocentlyfell.

  "Havens ill and you in New York Wednesday!" she exclaimed incredulously."But I certainly thought I saw your car turni
ng into the gate that veryafternoon."

  "I guess not, my dear," asserted Mrs. Tolman tranquilly. "The car hasnot been out of the garage until now. It must have been somebody elseyou saw."

  "But it was your car--I am certain of it," persisted Mrs. Taylor.

  "Nonsense, Mary!" laughed her husband. "If the car has been in thegarage for a week how could it have been. You probably dreamed it. Youwant a big red car so much yourself that you see them in your sleep."

  "No, I don't," protested Mrs. Taylor smiling good-humoredly at herhusband's banter.

  "Well, it may have been the Woodworths'," Mrs. Tolman said with soothinginspiration. "They have a car like ours and Mrs. Woodworth came to callwhile I was away. I'll ask the maid when I get home."

  "Y-e-s, it may have been the Woodworths'," admitted Mrs. Taylorreluctantly. It was plain, however, that she was unconvinced. "But Icould have staked my oath that it was your car and Steve driving it,"she added carelessly.

  "Steve!" Mr. Tolman ejaculated.

  "Oh, Steve never drives the car," put in Mrs. Tolman quickly. "He is notold enough to have a license yet, you know. That proves absolutely thatyou were mistaken. But Stephen has run the car now and then when Havensor his father were with him and he does very well at it. Some day hewill be driving it alone, won't you, son?"

  Bending forward she patted the boy's shoulder affectionately.

  For an instant it seemed to Stephen as if every one in both cars musthave heard the _pound_, _pound_, _pound_ of his heart, as if everybodyfrom Coventry to Torrington must have heard it. Helplessly he stared atBud and Bud stared back. No words were needed to assure the two thatonce again they were linked together by misdoing as they often had beenin the past. Bud looked anxiously toward his chum. He was a mischievous,happy-go-lucky lad but in his homely, freckled face there was a winsomemanliness. Whatever the scrapes he got into through sheer love of fun itwas characteristic of him that he was always courageous enough toconfess to them. This was the first inkling he had had that Stephen hadnot acquainted his father with the escapade of the previous week andsuch a course was so at variance with his own frank nature that he wasaghast. Even now he waited, expecting his pal would offer the trueexplanation of the mystery under discussion. He was ready to bear hisshare of the blame,--bear more than belonged to him if he could lightenSteve's sentence of punishment.

  But the silence remained unbroken and the words he expected to hear didnot come. A wave of surprise swept over his face, surprise followed by agrowing scorn. It came to him in a flash that Stephen Tolman, the boy hehad looked up to as a sort of idol, was a coward, a coward! He wasafraid! It seemed impossible. Why, Steve was always in the thick of thefootball skirmishes, never shrinking from the roughness of the game; hewas a fearless hockey player, a dauntless fighter. Coward was the lastname one would have thought of applying to him. And yet here he satcowering before the just result of his conduct. Bud was disappointed,ashamed; he turned away his head but not before the wretched lad whoconfronted him had caught in his glance the same contemptuous expressionhe had seen in O'Malley's face.

  Again Stephen was despised and knew it.

  Nevertheless it would not do to betray his secret now. He must not showthat he was disconcerted. At every cost he must brazen out the affair.He had gone too far to do otherwise. He wondered as he sat there if anyone suspected him; if his father, whose eye was as keen as that of aneagle, had put together any of the threads of evidence. He might becherishing suspicions this very moment. It seemed impossible that heshouldn't. If only he would speak and have it over! Anything would bebetter than this suspense and uncertainty.

  Mr. Tolman, however, maintained unwonted stillness and save for arestless twitching of his fingers on the wheel of the car did not move.If, thought Steve miserably, he could summon the nerve to look up, hewould know in a second from his father's face whether he was annoyed orangry. At last the situation became unbearable and come what might heraised his eyes. To his amazement his father was sitting there quiteserenely and so was everybody else, and the pause that seemed to him tostretch into hours had glided off as harmlessly and as naturally asother pauses. Apparently nobody was thinking about him, at least nobodybut Bud. With a sigh of relief his tense muscles relaxed. He could trustBud not to betray him. Once again he was safe!