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she got out and walked around in front as though in search of the cause of the
disturbance, and sure enough, there it was, flat as a pancake, the left front tire.
There was an extra wheel on the rear of the roadster, but it was heavy and
cumbersome, and the girl knew from experience what a dirty job changing a
wheel is. She had just about decided to drive home on the rim, when a young
man crossed the walk from Erie Street and joined her in her doleful appraisement
of the punctured casing.
"
Can I help you any?" he asked.
She looked up at him. "Thank you," she replied, "but I think I'll drive home on it
as it is. They can change it there."
"
It looks like a new casing," he said. "It would be too bad to ruin it. If you have a
spare I will be very glad to change it for you," and without waiting for her
acquiescence he stripped off his coat, rolled up his shirt-sleeves, and dove under
the seat for the jack.
Elizabeth Compton was about to protest, but there was something about the way
in which the stranger went at the job that indicated that he would probably finish
it if he wished to, in spite of any arguments she could advance to the contrary. As
he worked she talked with him, discovering not only that he was a rather nice
person to look at, but that he was equally nice to talk to.
She could not help but notice that his clothes were rather badly wrinkled and
that his shoes were dusty and well worn; for when he kneeled in the street to
operate the jack the sole of one shoe was revealed beneath the light of an
adjacent arc, and she saw that it was badly worn. Evidently he was a poor young
man.
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