Of the two matches in which the school had so far taken part, the first, with Baddeley High School, had been a draw, and in the second, with Tamley, they had been beaten.  It was not an encouraging record, and Winona felt that for the credit of the school it was absolutely necessary to vanquish Binworth.  Its team had a fairly good reputation, so it would be no easy task, but after the hockey successes of last winter she did not despair.  Apart from school she had a very pleasant time.  Nearly every evening after supper Aunt Harriet would suggest a short run in the car before sunset.  She generally allowed her niece to take the wheel as soon as they were clear of the town traffic, and Winona soon became quite expert at driving.  She liked to feel the little car answering to her guidance; there was a thrill in rounding corners and steering past carts, and every time she went out she gained fresh confidence.  She was not at all nervous, and kept her head admirably in several small emergencies, managing so well that Aunt Harriet finally allowed her to bring the car back down the High Street, which, as it was the most crowded portion of the town, was considered the motorist’s ordeal in Seaton.  She acquitted herself with great credit, passed a tramcar successfully, and understood the signals of the policeman who waved his hand at the corner.  Aunt Harriet had taken out a driver’s license for her, so having proved her skill in the High Street, she now felt quite a full-fledged lady chauffeur.

Winona immensely enjoyed these evening runs when the sky was aflame with sunset, and the trees were quiet dark masses of color, and the long road stretched out before her, pink from the glow above, and the lacey hemlocks and meadowsweets made a soft blurred border below the hedgerows.  With an open road in front of her she was tempted sometimes to put on speed, and felt as if she were flying onwards into a dream country where all was vague and mysterious and shadowy and unknown.  She was always loth to return, but Aunt Harriet was extremely particular that they must be home before lighting-up time, and would point remorselessly to the small clock that hung facing the seat.  Perhaps Winona’s greatest triumph was when, one evening, she managed without any assistance to run the car into its own shed in the garage, a delicate little piece of steering which required fine calculation, a quick hand, and a rapid turn.  She was learning something of the mechanism, too, could refill the petrol tank, and was almost anxious for a tire to burst, so that she might have the opportunity of putting on the Stepney wheel, though this latter ambition was not shared by her aunt.

“When all the men have gone to the war, I’ll be able to drive a taxi or a war van, and make myself useful to the Government!  I believe I could clean the car perfectly well if Sam should be called up, and has to leave the garage.  I’d just enjoy turning the hose on it.  What would they give me a week to take Sam’s place here?”