When I repaired to the garage next day, the manager said he could find nothing wrong with the car. The only trouble was that I had let the battery run down. I sarcastically remarked that he was mistaken; I had not let the battery run down, it had run down of itself, and that that was the best thing it did, that the battery had now been charged three times in two weeks. He said that the local garages were often careless about such matters, but that I should now find that it was all right. When I tried it I found that it functioned well, but as I could not start without Ruth, from whom I had heard nothing since leaving Barchester, I decided to leave the car in his care for another day at least. When I took my place at the driver's seat next day, I insisted that the manager should be present before I tested the car again. So he was sent for. I took my place and pressed the button. "Nothing doing." The manager suggested that the damp weather might have affected the current, and asked me to try again. This I did, with the same result as before. Then the manager tried, but it simply would not work. "What do _you_ think is the matter?" I said to the foreman, who, like the manager, is an American. He laconically replied: "You may search me." The manager said nothing and I viciously remarked: "Perhaps the battery has run down. Some of these garages are so careless!" He started to say something, and then evidently thought better of it. After a moment he said: "Well, I simply do not understand it. You saw for yourself that it worked perfectly two days ago?" "Yes," I said, "it always works 'perfectly' immediately after charging, but forty-eight hours later is 'dead.' The truth is the thing is a failure." "There will not be an American car on the market next year without one. They all follow the lead of the 'Frontenac,'" he indignantly replied. "This one will not lead them far," I said, being by this time thoroughly disgusted. "Our chief engineer is in Scotland, but is returning to-morrow. If you will leave the car here I will have him go over it from headlights to brake, and he will find the difficulty. You say it always runs till forty-eight hours after charging?" "Yes, that has been my experience." "How long since you first had this trouble?" "About three weeks." "Well, there is evidently nothing mechanically wrong. There is probably a leak which we have not been able to locate, and there the current escapes. If he cannot discover the trouble, I will cable to headquarters at home and we will see if you are right, and the invention is a failure. If you have made such a discovery, I should not like to say how many thousands of dollars the company has lost. But you may be sure the 'Frontinac' will scrap it quicker than they installed it."