"We have, but you do not mean to say that you have bought one already?" She nodded. "I did it yesterday. At least I made up my mind which one I would have, and I am taking a few trial trips with it. They send an experienced man with you, so there is no fear. It is not a Ford, but one of these new American ones. The Americans are more up-to-date and less expensive than the British. I want Waddy to come with me to-morrow. I am going to run down to Richmond and back. I have never seen Richmond Park." Mrs. Wharnecliffe looked at Thorold in a helpless fashion. "Has Miss Ward seen this purchase of yours?" he asked. "No. She's not much good in choosing cars." "And may we ask the cost of it?" Mrs. Wharnecliffe asked. "It will clear me out," she replied frankly; "but then, you see, it's like purchasing a business. I shall make the price of it over and over again. It's an investment. I know a lot about investments. I have heard men talk and I've made them explain it to me. I reckon this will return me 10 per cent. for my money. That's all right, isn't it?" She looked so childish as she talked, that Mrs. Wharnecliffe could only smile at her. But Thorold seemed bent on asserting his authority. "I should like to have a look at it," he said. "I know something about cars. Shall we go and see it now after lunch? We shall have time." For a moment a frown settled over Gentian's bright face. Then she said with dignity: "You may come and see it, if you say nothing. I don't want you to be countermanding my order, but you would not be so discourteous as that." So after lunch, they took a taxi to the city, and when Thorold saw the contemplated purchase, he found to his surprise that he could find no fault with it. He had a talk with the head of the firm, and then they all returned to the Gower Street lodgings. But on the way there, he said gravely to Gentian: "This is a very risky venture of yours. We don't want to throw water on your hopes, or prevent you from earning your livelihood, but will you let the final decision about it be postponed for a month from this date? Come down into the country and see what English country is like—Mrs. Wharnecliffe has invited you to be her guest." "If my car doesn't come with me, I don't come," said Gentian with great determination. "Then have it on trial. It may not prove a good one." "I might do that." And so a compromise was made, and an hour later Mrs. Wharnecliffe and Thorold were in the train for home, almost too bewildered by Gentian's personality to discuss her. They felt that they and any others would be only ciphers in her life. And Thorold said with a little laugh when he parted from Mrs. Wharnecliffe: "She seems to have come into our life like a whirlwind and taken root at once. You know that neither of us need have anything to do with her."