“Well, it’s a very strange and romantic affair,” remarked Angelina Bott, a sentimental sort of girl, to her chum, Alice Haven.  “It would make quite a story.”

“For the detectives—­yes,” assented Alice.  Then, speaking so loudly that Cora could not help but hear, she added:  “I guess hiders make the best finders, after all.”

Cora’s face turned red.  Jack, with an angry retort on his lips, stepped forward, but his sister laid a detaining hand on his arm.

“Don’t, Jack,” she begged.

“But it’s as good as saying you took it.”

“I know; but—­but, Jack, there will be more or less of—­suspicion.”

Jack swallowed a lump in his throat.  He glared at Alice Haven, who looked coldly at him and then turned away.

Just then the windows were opened, indicating that the mail was sorted, and there was a rush on the part of the waiting crowd.  Alice and Angelina were swallowed up in it.

Cora, with bitterness in her heart, turned aside.  There were tears in her eyes, and she did not want Jack to see them.

As she looked down a corridor of the post-office, she saw a stooping figure hurrying along.  It was that of Sid Wilcox.  And from another corridor, crossing the main one, came a girl, who joined him.

The girl was Ida Giles, and as Cora watched them she saw Sid hand Ida something that showed white in the gleam of an incandescent lamp.  It was evidently a letter.

CHAPTER XI

MOTORING OUTFITS

For days following the loss of the money and the finding of the empty pocketbook every possible clue was followed up, both by the police of New City and Chelton, and by many detectives, who were lured on by the offered reward of five hundred dollars.

Nor were suspicious tongues idle.  If Cora was not openly accused, it was because she had a brother who would vigorously defend her.  Nor did the Robinson girls altogether escape, though it was generally hinted, in the case of all the young ladies, that they might have hidden the money “just for fun,” and when they saw what excitement it caused they were afraid to return it.

“As if that was a joke,” said Cora, when she heard this version.

Of course, the boys who took part in the race had to answer numerous questions for the police, but at the end of a week, which was an unpleasant one for all concerned, the detectives were as far off the track as ever.  Sid and Ida had their share of the “third degree” of police questioning in a mild form, and though Sid was at first indignant and refused to answer questions, he finally gave in.  There was an unofficial verdict of “not guilty” in the case of all, and Ed’s little fortune seemed likely never to be found.

When, about two weeks after the loss, Cora took a hundred-dollar bill to the bank to get it changed, and the teller looked at it rather longer than seemed necessary, Jack, who was with his sister, asked: