Harriet was looking very pale.  She had been ill for two days after her unhappy experience.

“What on earth do you mean, Mr. Hamlin?” inquired Grace Carter anxiously, turning to their host.

The other girls smiled, thinking Mr. Hamlin was joking, he had been in such different spirits since Harriet’s return home.

“I mean what I say,” Mr. Hamlin returned gravely.  “The President wishes to see the ‘Automobile Girls’ in order to thank them for their service to their country.”  Mr. Hamlin allowed an earnest note to creep into his voice.  “The story has not been made public.  But I myself told the President of my narrow escape from disgrace, and he desires personally to thank the young girls who saved us.  I told him that he might rely on your respecting his invitation.”

“Oh, but we can’t go, Mr. Hamlin,” Mollie expostulated.  “Grace and I had nothing to do with saving the papers.  It was only Ruth and Bab!”

“It is most unusual to decline an invitation from the President, Mollie,” Mr. Hamlin continued.  “Only a death in the family is regarded as a reasonable excuse.  Now the President most distinctly stated that he desired a visit from the ’Automobile Girls’!”

“United we stand, divided we fall!” Ruth announced.  “Bab and I will not stir a single step without Grace and Mollie.”

“There is one other person who ought to be included in this visit to the President,” Harriet added, shyly.

“Whom do you mean, my child?” Mr. Hamlin queried.

Harriet hung her proud little head.  “I mean Marjorie Moore, Father.  I think she did as much as any one by keeping the story out of the papers when it would have meant so much for her to have published it.”

“Good for Harriet!” Ruth murmured under her breath.

“I did not neglect to tell the President of Miss Moore’s part in the affair, Daughter,” Mr. Hamlin rejoined.  “But I am glad you spoke of it.  I shall certainly see that she is included in the invitation.”

Promptly at twelve o’clock the “Automobile Girls” set out for the White House in the care of their old and faithful friend, Mr. A. Bubble.  On the way there they picked up Marjorie Moore, who had now become their staunch friend.

The girls were greatly excited over their second visit to the White House.  It was, of course, very unlike their first, since to-day they were to be the special guests of the President.  On the evening of the Presidential reception they had been merely included among several hundred callers.

Ruth sent in Mr. Hamlin’s card with theirs, in order to explain whose visitors they were.  The five girls were immediately shown into a small room, which the President used for seeing his friends when he desired a greater privacy than was possible in the large state reception rooms.

The girls sat waiting the appearance of the President, each one a little more nervous than the other.