Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/100

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THE APPLE TREE GIRL

Whereupon he beckoned the Faithful Seven with enthusiasm, and with enthusiasm they tumbled down into the pit and charged upon the car. How they stowed themselves in that single-seated runabout can better be imagined than described. All you could see were seven excited children, and the doctor's head, and a suggestion of wheels. And when the Little Rattler started off, instead of its customary clashing and gnashing of gears, its rackety clatter of fenders and hood, all you could hear were the Seven Faithful Ones who were having the first car ride of their young lives and were finding it filled with the most exquisite emotions.

Compared to this loud departure, it didn't seem like the same Little Rattler which came back twenty minutes later and quietly waited, its door open, for Charlotte to take her place.

"Where shall we go?" asked Neil.

"I thought you were going to take me

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