Now, Harriet had never intended to let her bill mount up to such a dreadful sum.  She was horrified when she found out how large it really was.  Yet month by month Harriet had been tempted to add to her stock of pretty clothes, without inquiring about prices, and she now found herself in this painful predicament.

Harriet, also, thought of every possible scheme by which she might raise the money she needed.  On one thing she was determined.  Her father should never learn of her indebtedness.  She would take any desperate measure before this should happen; for Harriet stood very much in awe of her father, and knew that he had a special horror of debt.

Since Charlie Meyers had behaved so rudely to Barbara, on the night of their automobile ride to Mt.  Vernon, Harriet had had nothing to do with him.  But now, in her anxiety, she decided to appeal to him.  She could think of no other plan.  Charlie Meyers was immensely rich and a very old friend.  Five hundred dollars could mean very little to him, and Harriet could, of course, pay him back later on.  She fully intended to live within her allowance in the future and save her money until she had paid every dollar that she owed.

But how was Harriet to see Charlie Meyers?  After all she had said about him to the “Automobile Girls,” she was really ashamed to invite him to her house.  So Harriet dispatched a note to the young man, making an appointment with him to meet her on a corner some distance from the house on the same afternoon that Bab made her uncomfortable visit to Mrs. Wilson.

Charlie Meyers was highly elated when he read Harriet Hamlin’s note.  He had known her since she was a little girl in short frocks and was very fond of her.  He had been deeply hurt by her coldness to him since their automobile party, but he was such an ill-bred fellow that he simply had not understood how badly he had behaved.  He did know that Mr. Hamlin disliked him and did not enjoy his attentions to his daughter; so he hated Mr. Hamlin in consequence.

When Harriet’s note arrived, he interpreted it to mean that she was sorry she had treated him unkindly, and that she did care for him in spite of her father’s opposition.  So he drove down to the designated corner in his car, feeling very well pleased with himself.

Harriet, however, started out to meet the young man feeling ashamed of herself.  She knew that she was behaving very indiscreetly, but she believed that Charlie Meyers would be ready to help her and that she could make him do anything she wished.  She accepted his invitation to take a ride, but she put off the evil moment of voicing her request as long as possible, and as they glided along in Meyers’ car, she made herself as agreeable to her escort as she knew how to be.

After they had driven some distance out from Washington in the direction of Arlington, the old home of General Robert E. Lee, Charlie Meyers said bluntly to Harriet: