"There"s a garage just around the corner from the hotel," answered Cora.
"We can have the man look the machines over, too, and see that there is plenty of gasoline and oil. Then we won"t have to worry."
The three cars had drawn up in front of the Mansion House at Fairport, following a pleasant run after the sheep episode. Jack and Ed, of course, were not present, and of them more presently. They were having, as Jack might express it, "their own troubles."
"Oh, but I"m warm and dusty!" exclaimed Eline as she "flopped" from the car to the sidewalk. Flopped is the only word that properly expresses it.
"Then you"re not much used to motoring," remarked Cora with a smile, as she disengaged herself from the steering wheel. "It is tiring, at first, but one soon becomes used to it. How did you like it, Cousin Mary?"
"It was delightful, my dear, purely delightful; but I will own that I shall be glad to walk again." She alighted from the car of the twins. The two sisters got down, and Belle went around to look at one of the rear tires. She had a suspicion, amounting to a conviction, that it had gone flat. It had.
"I"ll let the garage man attend to it," she said. "I"m too anxious now to get some nice warm water, soap and a large towel."
"Me for a large, juicy towel!" exclaimed Walter, coming up with Norton.
"Will you have yours boiled or stewed?"
"Silly! I don"t call that a joke!"
"You don"t need to; it comes without calling."
"That"s worse," declared Bess, trying to get some of the road dust off her face with a very small handkerchief.
"Well, we"re here, anyhow!" put in Norton, "I don"t think much of the hotel, though."
"It will do very nicely," answered Cora somewhat coldly. She was not quite sure whether she was going to like Norton or not. He did not seem to improve upon acquaintance, and she was a little sorry that Jack had asked him on the trip. Still, she reflected, one can easily be mistaken about boys. Perhaps his flippant manner might be due to nervousness, or a diffidence in not knowing how to say the right thing at the right time.
"We"re here--because we"re here!" exclaimed Walter. "That"s more than can be said for Jack and Ed."
"Are they in sight?" asked Cora, looking down the long straight road--the main street of Fairport--by which they had entered the town.
"Not yet," answered Bess. "Oh, do let"s get into the hotel!" she exclaimed. "A crowd is collecting, and I do so want a drink of cold water."
"Hot tea for me," spoke Belle. "Hot tea with a slice of lemon in it."
"Since Belle went to that Russian tea-fest last winter she always takes lemon in her tea," explained her sister. "Ugh! I can"t bear it!" Bess was nothing if not certain in her likes and dislikes.
"It"s really the only way to drink tea, my dear," said Belle, with an affected society drawl. "It"s so--so mussy with cream and sugar in it,"
and she spread out her hands in aesthetic horror--or something to simulate that.
"I think I shall be satisfied with just plain tea," voiced Cora, as she took another look down the road for her brother. "Come on, girls--and boys!" she added.
A little throng was beginning to gather in front of the hotel, somewhat blocking the sidewalk, for the sight of the cars drawn up in front of the hostel and perhaps the sight of the four--well, it might as well be said--pretty motor girls, had attracted attention.
"Shoo--shoo--chickens!" exclaimed Mrs. Fordam with a laugh as she brought up back of the girls. "Let"s get in and freshen up for supper."
"Dinner!" cried Walter. "It"s not allowed to say supper on this tour.
Dinner; isn"t it, Cora?"
"As you like," she a.s.sented a bit wearily, for now, after the excitement of the day, the work and worry, much of which had necessarily fallen to her, Cora was beginning to feel the reaction. The fire, too, and the strange woman, all had added to it. But she knew they could have a good rest that evening.
"Jack must be having trouble with that tire," she went on, as they entered the hotel. "I think he had better put on an entirely new one."
"Oh, he"ll be here pretty soon," said Walter. "Really we haven"t been here long, and we ought to allow him half an hour anyway. The _Get There_ will go----"
"Once it does go," interrupted Norton. "I wonder where we register?"
"There"s the desk," said Walter, pointing to where the hotel clerk stood behind the counter waiting for the party. He smiled a welcome.
"I"ll register for the girls," said Mrs. Fordam. "I want to see how the rooms are arranged before we commit ourselves to them."
The suite was satisfactory and soon the girls had gone to their apartments, their suit cases having been brought up by the bell boys.
Walter and Norton, after putting their names down on the register, took the three cars to the garage around the corner, leaving them there for the night.
"Unless we want to take a little spin this evening," suggested Norton, as they were on their way back to the hotel.
"I guess the girls will be too tired," returned Walter. "We might take in a show, however. That would be restful."
"Not any moving pictures!" exclaimed Norton, hastily. "I"m dead sick of them."
"So am I. There are a couple of good theatres in town, I think. However, we"ll leave it to the girls."
"Did you see anything of Jack?" asked Cora, anxiously, as the two young men came in. There was a worried look in her eyes.
"No, he hasn"t come yet," answered Walter. "But it"s early yet. Dinner won"t be served for an hour, the clerk told me. Say, you girls look all right!" and there was genuine admiration in his eyes.
"Why shouldn"t we?" asked Eline. She had put on a fawn-colored dress that set off her complexion wonderfully well. Cora had put on her new brown, while Belle in blue and Bess in mauve added to the charm. The girls had freshened their complexion with cold cream and a thorough rinsing, and all traces of the rather dusty trip had been removed.
"It"s up to us for our glad rags," said Norton. "Come on, Walter. There"s no use letting them carry off all the honors," and he started for the elevator.
"I wish you"d give just a look, and see if Jack isn"t coming," went on Cora. "I"m really a little worried. He may have had an accident."
"Now don"t you go to worrying," counseled Walter, in his best brotherly manner. "Jack and Ed can take care of themselves, all right."
"No, don"t worry," went on Mrs. Fordam. "It will spoil your pleasure, Cora."
"But I just can"t help it. Come on, girls, we"ll get our wraps and go outside. I simply can"t sit still."
"No, we had plenty of sitting all day," admitted Bess. "I believe it would be nice to walk up and down out in front for a change. It"s rather stuffy in here," and she glanced about a typical hotel parlor.
"All right, go ahead and we"ll be with you in a little while," directed Walter, he and Norton going to their rooms while the girls and Mrs. Fordam went outside.
All the injunctions of her companions not to worry did not drive anxiety from Cora. Time and again she glanced down the road her brother must come, but the _Get There_ was not living up to its name.
Dusk came, but no Jack. The promise of good appet.i.tes for the dinner was not carried out, for Cora"s worry affected all of them more or less. And it began to look as if something really had happened.
"I simply must do something!" Cora exclaimed after dinner. "I"m going to see if I can"t telephone to some one along the road, and ask if there has been an accident."
They tried to persuade her not to, but she insisted and started toward the booth.