Naturally, there had to be some understanding of this kind, for
personality counts a lot in automobiling, and often the chauffeur
is more to blame than the machine. But it was awful what fibs it
tempted us into, and how we were always "passing the buck," as
they say in poker. Nelly got so treacherous that once she told
me she didn't care to use the wagon that day, and would I like
to? She had chewed up the bearings in a front wheel and if I
hadn't suspected her generosity and taken a good look beforehand
it would have cost me six dollars!

I guess I wasn't any better myself, and quite a coolness sprang
up all around.

The repair bills came to a good deal of money, and the eighteen
dollars a month we paid at the garage was the least of the total.
The Henry Ward Beecher agent had told Harry it cost a cent a mile
to run a Fearless, but if he had said a dollar-eighty he would
have been nearer the mark. Mr. Hoover said cheerfully he knew
only one person who had got automobiling down to bed-rock, and
that was pa! But for the rest of the syndicate it was their
life's blood. It began to dawn on Harry and Nelly that they
could never get married at all, as long as they stayed in the
combine. It had cost them all the money they had saved to come
in, and now it was taking every cent they had to stay in. Nelly
used to cry about it, though I never noticed that it made any
difference in her taking out the car, which she did regularly,
and didn't let me ride with her unless I paid a dollar each time
in advance. She said she didn't know any other way of saving
money.