



Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net






[Illustration: The Girls Sat On the Broad Piazza.]




THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH

OR

PROVING THEIR METTLE UNDER SOUTHERN SKIES

By

LAURA DENT CRANE

  Author of The Automobile Girls at Newport, The Automobile
  Girls in the Berkshires, The Automobile Girls Along the
  Hudson, The Automobile Girls at Chicago, etc.

Illustrated

PHILADELPHIA

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY




Copyright, 1913, by

Howard E. Altemius

PRINTED IN U. S. A.




CONTENTS

        I. The Land of Dreams                            7
       II. A West Indian Squall                         21
      III. The Fair Unknown                             32
       IV. The Compact                                  43
        V. The Daughter of Mrs. De Lancey Smythe        51
       VI. The Countess Sophia                          64
      VII. Tea in the Cocoanut Grove                    75
     VIII. The Warning                                  87
       IX. A Case of Mistaken Identity                  95
        X. The Secret Signals                          105
       XI. Wheels Within Wheels                        113
      XII. Maud Refuses to Be Rescued                  123
     XIII. A Surprise Party                            132
      XIV. The Plot Thickens                           147
       XV. Caught Napping                              154
      XVI. Welcome and Unwelcome Guests                166
     XVII. The Midnight Intruder                       179
    XVIII. The Water Fete                              189
      XIX. Red Dominos                                 200
       XX. Conclusion                                  204




The Automobile Girls at Palm Beach




CHAPTER I

THE LAND OF DREAMS


"I don't believe anything could be more lovely than this," exclaimed
Mollie Thurston, leaning back in a wicker chair on the piazza of one of
the largest hotels at Palm Beach.

"Right you are!" replied her friend, Ruth Stuart, as she gazed across
the still blue waters of Lake Worth dotted with pleasure boats. "I can't
decide whether I should like to ride in the automobile, or sail, or just
sit in the cocoanut grove and listen to the music. Life seems so easy
under a blue sky like this, and there are so many things to do that it
is hard to make a choice."

"What do people usually do at this hour?" Grace Carter asked. "A woman I
talked with on the train told me there was a programme of amusements for
every hour at Palm Beach."

"Well, my dear, you have only to gaze about you and see for yourself. It
is now high noon," answered Ruth, consulting her watch.

Grace glanced quickly about her. All along the broad piazza, and under
awnings on the lawn, a gay company of men, women and young people were
sipping delicious iced fruit drinks in tall, thin glasses.

"It is undoubtedly the witching hour for pineapple lemonades," said
Ruth. "And we must be in the fashion immediately. Papa," she called to
her father, who was immersed in the pages of a New York newspaper
several days old, "you are not doing your duty by us. We are getting
awfully thirsty."

Mr. Stuart, clad in white, and looking the picture of comfort, smiled
lazily over his paper at his daughter. "Order what you like, my dear. Am
I not always at the command of the 'Automobile Girls'? What do you wish,
little lady?" he asked, turning to Barbara Thurston, who had been lost
in a day-dream and had heard nothing of the conversation.

"I haven't any wish," responded Barbara. "I am too happy to be troubled
with wishes."

"Then suppose I wish for you, Bab?" suggested Ruth. "Go back to your own
sweet dreams. I'll wake you when the wish comes true."

Presently the four girls were sipping their fruit lemonades like the
rest of the world at Palm Beach. On the breeze the sound of music was
wafted to them from a morning concert in the distance.

"Where is Aunt Sallie?" Ruth suddenly asked, again interrupting her
father's reading. "This place has bewitched me so that I have forgotten
even my beloved aunt. This is the land of dreams, I do believe. We are
all spirits from some happy world."

"Here comes your spirit aunt," returned Mr. Stuart, smiling. "She has
evidently been spirited away by some other friendly spirits."

The girls laughed as they saw the substantial figure of Miss Sallie
Stuart strolling down the piazza. She was walking between two other
persons, one a tall, middle-aged man with dark hair slightly tinged with
gray, the other a young woman. They were all three talking animatedly.

"Girls, look!" exclaimed Ruth, in suppressed excitement. "Aunt Sallie is
with that Maud Warren. You remember we met her at Lenox, Bab, and she
tried to ride you down in the famous race. Delightful creature--to keep
away from." Ruth gave a contemptuous sniff, then added. "That nice
looking man must be her father."

"She looks as haughty as ever, and then some more," said Mollie
aggressively.

The girls giggled softly, then straightened their faces for the trio was
almost upon them, and it was not safe to indulge in further
conversation.

After seeing that his charges were