“You mean you have bought me a new car, Daddy?” interrupted Jane.

“I haven’t said.  I reckon you don’t need a car here.  You must have learned, from your recent experience, that an automobile doesn’t travel on water half as well as it does on land.”

“Ourth did.  It traveled fine until it got to the bottom,” Tommy informed him.

“No, I haven’t bought another car yet.  I have some men who are going to get the old one up to-morrow.  We shall see what shape she’s in.  Of course, if she isn’t workable any more, I will have another for you by the time you get home.  Tell me how it happened.  I couldn’t make much out of your telegram.  By the way, when you send a telegram, don’t forget that you aren’t writing a letter.  That telegram you sent cost me nine dollars and thirty-seven cents.”

“Isn’t it worth that much to hear from your daughter?” Jane’s eyes were dancing.

Mr. McCarthy took off his hat and wiped the perspiration from his forehead.

“What would you do with her, Mrs. Livingston?” he laughed.

“I should love her, Mr. McCarthy; she is worth it,” was the Chief Guardian’s prompt reply.

“She is,” he agreed solemnly, “and I do.  But you haven’t told me, Jane, darling.”

“Oh, let Harriet do it.  I never was strong on telling things so any one could understand what I was talking about.”

“There isn’t much to tell about the accident, except that we turned off on a side road according to directions.  Jane wheeled down it at a slow rate of speed—­for her,” added Harriet under her breath.  “We ran out on an ice pier and plumped right into the pond.”

“You went down with the car, then?” stammered Mr. McCarthy.

“Right down to the bottom,” Tommy informed him.

“That did not amount to much,” continued Harriet.  “The top was not up.  We had little difficulty in getting out—­”

“But Harriet was drowned in getting the trunk free from the rear end,” declared Jane earnestly.

“Drowned?” exclaimed the contractor.

“Yes, nearly drowned,” corrected Miss Elting.  “We had a pretty hard time resuscitating her.  I am beginning to think that the Meadow-Brook Girls bear charmed lives, Mr. McCarthy.”

“So am I. But you don’t mean to tell me that Harriet really was all but drowned?”

“Yes.”

“It does beat all, it does,” reflected Mr. McCarthy, mopping his forehead again and regarding Harriet with wondering eyes.  “It is a guess as to whether she or Jane can get into the most trouble.  They are a pair hard to beat.”

“We do not try to find excitement, Mr. McCarthy,” expostulated Harriet.  “We cannot always help it if trouble overtakes us the way it did when the car went into the ice pond.”

“Certainly not.  I know you, at least, are wholly to be depended upon, but Jane isn’t always the most prudent girl in the world.  Now, will you dears run along and enjoy yourselves.  I have several things to discuss with Mrs. Livingston, then we will have an afternoon together.  I wish Jane and Harriet to drive down with me and show me the place where they lost the car later on in the afternoon.  You remember you interrupted our conversation here a short time ago, Jane,” reminded the visitor.