“Meaning some others won’t—­such as Sid, for example?”

“Well, he’s very `close’ sometimes, so to speak.  At least very hard to understand.  But let’s talk about something else.  When do you go over to the bank, to stand and deliver your good cash, bonds and securities for their stock?”

“This very afternoon, may it please the court.  And, by the same token, I should be getting home now.  Hope we won’t meet anyone, or they might ask, as Sid did, if I’d been clamming.  I can’t seem to keep out of the mud.”

They gathered up their fishing paraphernalia and walked out to the highway.

“Are you and your money going over in the machine?” asked Jack.

“Certainly.  Why not?  Henry Porter is going to loan me his runabout.”

“Oh, I suppose it’s all right, but it’s a lot of money to carry with you alone—­twenty thousand dollars.”

“And to hear you talk I might suspect that you had designs on it.  I guess I’ll get over to New City with it safe and sound.  I hardly think I need a bodyguard.”

“Humph!  Maybe not.  I guess you’ll be all right.”

“Your sister seems much interested in motoring,” remarked Ed as they trudged along.

“Oh, yes, sis is just wild about it.  She learned to run my car, and then began teasing for one of her own.  We a were waiting for her seventeenth birthday to give it to her—­mother and I—­”

“Oh, I suppose you paid for part of it,” remarked Ed with a laugh.

“No; but I ran it up from the garage for her.  It’s a fine, up-to-date car, and now that sis has it she’s as happy as a kitten lapping up sweet cream.”

“And she’s as plucky as—­um—­what shall I say?  I never saw any one manage a car better than she did the day the brake wouldn’t work and they nearly ran into the train.  I declare, when I saw her dive through that gap in the fence and steer toward me through the pond, I felt like yelling.  I was almost frozen stiff.  Couldn’t do a thing but look on.”

“And sis thawed you out with a mud bath,” said Jack.  “Oh, Cora’s all right, even if I am her brother.”

“She certainly is a star, if I may be pardoned the expression.  Well, here’s where I’m going to leave you.  I’ve got to stop at the post-office.  People have gotten into the habit lately, and a mean habit it is, of mailing me bills about the first of the month.  One would think they might let a fellow have a vacation from that sort of thing once in a while.”

“Oh, I get mine, too.  And this month they’re rather heavier than usual, as it’s Cora’s birthday.”

“There’s Sid,” suddenly remarked Ed, pointing down the road to where Sidney Wilcox was coming around a turn, walking slowly.

“Yes, and I guess he gets his bills, too.”

“Likely,” admitted Ed.  “He seems to have one now, and it doesn’t appear to please him,” for Sid was intently studying a sheet of paper as he walked along.  He turned back and looked up the road.