They rode in silence at first but their spirits rose with the rapid flight and the joy of freedom. They skirted Stanwixley and were soon speeding over the hills. She wore a pretty fur toque and when the wind began to whip her free hair, he begged her not to tie on the veil she had brought, lest it spoil the jaunty effect of the cap, in which, he assured her, she looked only seventeen. Their flight into the open took colour from this thought of their youth, dancing alluringly before them over unreckoned miles to a goal where all was possible and all unknown. It had been unseasonably warm at noon, but the wind blew more coldly as the afternoon advanced. Dark clouds were massing in the West; the storm spirit, having ranged the plains and prairies of the farther West, was now preparing to pile its snow in the Appalachian valleys. “How would a snow-storm strike you? We’re likely to catch one before the day’s over.” They were climbing a hill and as the heavy machine gained the windy top and a long, clear stretch of highway spread before them he looked at her and asked: “This road leads round the world--why should we ever go back?” “Because we are not utterly silly, and we are not going to lose our minds, I hope.” But she laughed, as much as to say that nothing really mattered. “I’m hungry. It seems to me you promised sandwiches. If you did, I’m dying for food; if you didn’t bring them, then I’m not hungry!” “I like your philosophy. You’d be a good girl to seek the happy isles with--you wouldn’t cry if you got your feet wet, or were lost on a desert island, or anything like that.” “I hope not--but you never can tell. I mustn’t get the crying habit--nothing ages one so fast.” “I think we’d better turn round unless we really expect to be gone forever--I’m willing if you are. As to the sandwiches, I have a little surprise in store for you. It’s too cold to picnic out-of-doors--how would a fire and something hot strike you?” “Tea--most delightful of thoughts! But these farmhouses don’t look inviting.” “That’s where the surprise comes in. We’ll run into the Rosedale Country Club and maybe we can get a fire to take the chill off before we go home. You’ve never seen Rosedale; it’s the best thing we do in country clubs.”