Part 26 (2/2)
”Now, please,” interrupted Cora ”I was a Sid Wilcox But I cannot understand why he wanted the position Even your explanation will hardly account for his extraordinary conduct
Why should he want to run a car across country?”
”Well, it can't be because he is short of funds,” said Paul frankly
”I'm positive of that He took particular pains to display a roll of bills when he was in the auto office, and I think that did not favorably ih I was practically sure of the place when he came in”
”Well, that's just like Sid Wilcox,” and Cora shuddered It was a reaction of the unpleasant ride she had been forced to take with him
”I hope, Miss Kimball, that you will soon be able towhich the car had run along They were near the Beachwood Road, at the end of which, in a little grove of trees, was Cora's home
”Not on account of what you have done for ood friends Hazel is a fine girl, as I said before, and besides that--” Paul stopped abruptly
”Oh, I'hted fro to wake up folks around here Do you knoe all seem to be terribly depressed since that money was--lost”
”Yes, and I don't wonder at it Twenty thousand dollars is a large sum I'd call it a fortune But, somehow, I feel sure that Mr
Foster will recover it I wish I could help unravel the mystery I would like to--for more reasons than one”
What could he lanced at hiratefully
”Good-by,” she said suddenly
”Good-by,” echoed Paul, and he turned up the street
CHAPTER XV
THREE GIRLS
Reflecting on her strange experience while in New City, seated late that same afternoon on the broad veranda of her handsoht No one whom she knew had seen her while Sid Wilcox was in possession of her car--and of her
Feeling this assurance she decided not tostolen the ride She resolved to ask Paul to keep it a secret, and she kneould As for Sid himself, if he did boast of it, feould credit his story, for he did not bear a very good reputation for truth, and he was constantly getting into scrapes Cora especially hoped Jack would not hear of the escapade
Now Cora, who had been sitting in an easy chair, trying to read a book, decided to take the ha
She wore a simple frock of whitefashi+on, in long, loose braids, all co
Cora was taking what she called her ”loll” This particular forirl could reasonably enjoy
”When you rest, why, just rest,” she used to say to Isabel Robinson, who, on account of her nervous temperament, had rather been overdone with ”rest cure” ideas Isabel delighted in such terms as ”relaxation” and ”siesta,” while Cora reveled in her ”loll”
A box of ”deadly chocolates”--that is what Isabel would have called the for the tenth one, when Isabel herself, and her sister, sauntered along the path
”Coirls,” called out Cora ”But please don't ask me to move I'm in the most delicious heap”