"--And the machine was completely smashed--crumpled up--with a telephone pole on top of it. Then the gasoline caught fire and the whole thing burned up, pole and all. The other men were more or less hurt, but I hadn't a scratch, only some bruises. Fostrow's in a hospital out there, now, with two ribs broken. The owner of the machine got after us. It was a new machine and a beauty; cost five thousand, he said. So that explains the bail."
"Oh, Charlie!" breathed Patty. "What a mercy you escaped!"
Charlie smiled complacently. He had really done pretty well. That story, he thought, would be a credit to anybody.
"But, Charlie," Patty continued, after a short silence, "why don't you tell Sally the whole story. She'd find some way to get you out of it. She--she is really very good at managing affairs."
Charlie shivered involuntarily. Sally was very good at managing affairs. He could see her pitying smile as she listened in silence to his string of plausible lies and the look from the gray eyes would be boring straight down into his soul as he talked, and he would be afraid. And his speech would grow more halting, and he would finish in some confusion and Sally would turn away with a quiet "Humph!" or she would say nothing at all, which would be almost worse. And she would not tell him what she was going to do, but she would go and do it, and it--whatever it was--would be most effective, and that was exactly what Charlie did not want. He shivered again as he thought of it. Sally managed affairs too well; that was the trouble. No, distinctly no; he did not want Sally to have any hand in this affair. He thought that he could manage it very well himself. It was going beautifully, so far.
"No, Pat," he said gently. "I prefer not to tell Sally. I--to tell the truth, Sally and mother don't seem very glad to see me. I think they'd rather I stayed away."
"Oh, you poor boy!" Patty's eyes shone with pity. "You dear boy! _I'm_ glad to see you, anyway, Charlie, dear. You have one friend who won't desert you."
"Thank you, Pat. I thought I could depend on you."
"I'll undertake the management of this affair." Patty spoke with pride. A faint smile began to curl the corners of Charlie's mouth. He suppressed it. Patty was deep in thought; or she flattered herself that she was.