"No, indeed. It seemed to me that you were not particularly interested in one." He shrewdly placed the responsibility for delay upon her. "I am _now_. More so than ever," Virginia declared. "I wasn't sure before what kind of a car I wanted. Now I know." "Well?" Obadiah's enthusiasm in the proposed purchase had cooled as hers increased. She squeezed his arm up against her and announced breathlessly, "I want a truck, Daddy." "A truck!" Obadiah viewed his daughter as if he deemed the immediate attentions of an alienist essential in her case. "What on earth would you do with a truck?" "I need it to take those colored orphans out for a ride each week," she explained, full of the plan. "I am going to have benches made to fit on each side of the truck so that it will take them all comfortably. Isn't it a fine idea?" Obadiah, dumfounded for the moment, regained speech and sought information as one who had not heard aright. "Do you mean to say that you want me to buy a truck to haul those negro children around town?" "Yah--yah--yah." Upon the front seat, Ike so far forgot the proprieties of his station that he gave vent to noisy merriment at the domestic perplexities of gentlefolk. "Keep your mind on your business," Obadiah commanded, glaring at his chauffeur's neck. Virginia, disregarding the _faux pas_ of the chauffeur and its condign reproof, proceeded to explain her plans. "We have decided, Daddy, that those orphans must be taken for a ride every week." "Who has decided that?" "Hennie and I have worked it all out." "What has that woman got to do with it?" he snapped. "Does she expect me to buy trucks to haul all the negro children in town on pleasure trips?" Violent paroxysms beset Ike and bent him as a sapling in a gale. Obadiah's eyes glared at the black neck as if, discharging X-rays, they might expose the chauffeur's malady. Heedless of disturbing influences, Virginia went on, "Hennie thought that this car was too small. She felt that it would be better to get a truck which would carry all the orphans than to use this." "Indeed!" interjected Obadiah. "I suggested to her that I would get you to loan us a truck from the mill; but Hennie said that she was sure that you wouldn't let us have it." "Ahem--ahem," choked the mill owner, getting red in the face. "I told her that I knew you would be glad to let us have it because you did so love to help people," explained Virginia with great pride. Obadiah shifted uneasily in his seat. "What did she say?" "Hennie said that she wished me success." Obadiah relaxed as one relieved from strain.