"Well, I am glad you have found that out, little girl," answered the brother, putting her comfortably down in the big armchair. "What"s the particular risk now? No more stolen girls?"
"Oh, that was your part," she said, laughing. "And, by the way, I hear you are quite a successful kidnaper."
"Not so bad. But you should have seen the time we had to get Wren to the sanitarium. She didn"t want to leave here, and had a mortal fear of a hospital. But how are you?" and he looked into her flushed face.
"I declare it seems moons since I"ve seen you."
"And all the other planets since I saw you, Jack. I wonder will I ever have the courage to tell you all about it?"
"Wouldn"t the courage just naturally come on my side? I would have to listen--"
"Oh, no. You don"t have to--"
"There you go! Home ten minutes and picking a fight--"
"Jack Kimball!"
"Cora Kimball!"
Then they both laughed. It was jolly even to play at quarreling, and be real brother and sister again.
"Well, I have so little time, Jack, I must be serious. You know we have to get back to Breakwater to-night. We are to fetch you, and Ed and Walter and Clip--"
"Oh, you don"t say! In a suit case or a la hamper? Ed is literally cut up about all the girls being out of town at once. He would fit in the shirt box, I fancy. But Wallie--he seems to have expanded. I doubt if you could manage him--"
"Oh, you ridiculous boy! Come on. Run after me while I get through the house. I must see dear old Margaret. How is she treating you?"
"First-rate, for Margaret. She only starved me out of the midnight rations twice--"
"You should not eat after ten, Jack. But come along. I must look over the place, and talk at the same time," and with that intention Cora started on her tour of home inspection, while Jack made all the noise he possibly could make (which was not a little), running through the house after her.
Margaret, of course, knew what the tumult was about. She always declared that boys went to college to learn how to make unearthly noises.
Cora found little out of place. Margaret was an old and trusted servant, and, in the absence of her mistress, could always be depended upon to look after the "children."
"And now I must go and get the folks together," remarked Cora. "Can you come, Jack?"
"And help you pick up the humans? Well, guess I may as well, as I am to be in the collection. But what is it all about?"
In a girl"s way Cora told of the plans for the auto fete, and of Dr.
Bennet wishing to have the Chelton boys meet his student friends.
"First rate!" responded Jack, when Cora paused for breath. "I rather fancy the idea of going after some of the girls. I cannot help but agree with Ed that all the girls should not leave town at once--you should take turns."
"But how about Clip? The others imagine that she makes up for quite a number--with you and Walter."
"There you go again, picking a fight," and he laughed honestly. "Now, Cora, Clip is just Clip, no more and not one whit less, but she has been so busy--oh, so tremendously busy!" He was getting into his motor togs, and Cora was already equipped for her ride about Chelton. "Say, sis," he added, "did I tell you I have my suspicions about the loss of Wren"s book? Did she describe to you the pair who last signed the contract?"
"No," answered Cora, now fully interested.
"Well, she told me it was a fellow with bent shoulders, and a girl with red hair. Now, who does that fit?"
Cora thought for a moment. Then her face showed quicker than her words that she guessed who might answer those descriptions.
"Sid Wilc.o.x and Ida Giles!" she exclaimed. "But what motive could they have?"
"Sid Wilc.o.x and Rob Roland are termed the Heavenly Twins, they are so often together. Now, Rob Roland has been the paragraph and the period, so to speak, in this story," said Jack meaningly.
"But why should Ida stoop to such a thing?"
"Didn"t you run over her dining-car one day early this summer?" Jack reminded her. "Or was it Bess? No matter just who, it was one of the motor girls. And, besides, you did not ask her to go on the run."
"If I thought Ida Giles knew anything about that book I would go directly to her house and demand an explanation," said Cora, flushing.
"Ida is too apt to be influenced by Sid Wilc.o.x. I thought she had seen enough of the consequences of such folly."
"Oh, Ida is ambitious in that line," replied the cool, deliberate Jack.
"Well, let us start," suggested Cora. "I have quite some ground to cover. Dr. Bennet has agreed to find and fetch Clip."
"Has, eh? Smart fellow, Doc Bennet! I tried all afternoon yesterday to locate the lithersome Clip. Took a coy little jaunt of two miles afoot--some one said she had a friend out Bentley way, but I did not locate her. Hope Doc has better luck."
Jack said this in a way that opposed his words to their own meaning.
He evidently meant he hoped Dr. Bennet would not have better luck.
"I am so anxious about the report on Wren," commented Cora, as they finally started off in Jack"s runabout. "It will mean so much to her mother, and to her, of course."
"Well, if Clip has had any influence, I should say Wren would turn out an artist"s model, physically. Clip has just about lived with the child since you went away. Of course, we had Miss Brown, and if she isn"t Brown by nature as well as by name. I wouldn"t say so. I never got one single smile to cut across her map."
"Shall we look for Ed first?" and Cora could not control a most provoking flush that threatened her cheeks.
"Just as you say, lady. But I have not told you--let the last moment be the hardest. Ed has taken to the ram. He is training the ram.
Can"t get him away from the ram. Mary"s little lamb is a "bucking bronco" to it."
"Oh, I have been wondering about that," said Cora. "I thought I was to wear the ram"s fleece as a sort of real baby-lamb coat next winter."
"Nothing of the sort, girl. Ed"s ramifications are the talk of the town. He is to give an exhibition at college when we get back. A clear case of the lamb and Mary"s school days."
"Well, where shall we hope to find him?" and she glanced at her watch.
"I must find some one soon."
"Come along. I"ll hunt him up. He is likely at this very moment giving Minus his morning ablutions. He called the ram Minus because the animal takes away so much of his time. Joke, eh?"
Jack directed his machine toward the same little creek that figured in my first story of the motor girls, when Ed rescued them from a sorry plight, the Whirlwind having run into a mudhole.
"Now, I"ll bet we find him by the brookside with Minus chewing daisies and, incidentally, Ed"s stray clothing," declared Jack.
Along the way people appeared surprised to see Cora, and their greetings were a mixture of query and astonishment.
"There"s Ida!" suddenly exclaimed Jack. "Don"t let on you see her. I don"t want to stop here to talk to her."