I said, “Oh, we’ve been doing a lot of killing lately—killing time.”

“How’s the old car?” he said, “When are you going to have the grand opening?”

I said, “You’d better be careful how you speak about that old car; it has a past—a dark past.”

Grace Bronson said, “Oh, isn’t that perfectly lovely?”

lovely

“There’s a mystery connected with it.” Pee-wee said.

“No!” Harry said, kind of jollying Pee-wee. “How long has it been connected?”

“Twenty-five long years,” Pee-wee said, all the while working away on his ice cream.

“Long ones, hey?” Harry said.

“Do you know what happened to the train that car was on once?” Pee-wee said.

“Come in on time?” Harry began laughing; because that’s one thing the trains out our way never do.

“Worse than that,” Pee-wee said; “here read this letter that we found way in under the stuffing of the seat.”

The kid started digging down in his pocket and pretty soon that table looked like a church rummage sale.

“Did you ever?” Grace Bronson said; “what in the world is this?”

ever

world

this

“Take your pick,” I told her; “souvenirs of the boy scouts.”

All the while Harry Donnelle was reading the letter and I could see he was interested, because he didn’t bother to jolly Pee-wee about all the rest of that junk. When he was finished he didn’t say a single word, only handed it to Grace and watched her while she read it, all the while drumming with his fingers on the table.

“And you found it?” she said. “Oh, I think it’s too romantic for anything! Did you ever read such a letter! It 

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