“Of course it’s for a girl,” answered her brother, seeing that his sister was under a misapprehension, and not being able to resist the chance to tease her.  “Of course it’s for a girl.  And—­”

“Oh!  But Jack, what will mother say—­you becoming engaged—­”

“Who said I was engaged?” he asked.  “Look inside and you’ll see whose it is.”

“Ida Giles!” cried Cora.

“Exactly.  She lost it,” and to end her increasing wonder, Jack told his sister the circumstances.

Cora wanted to go at once and return the ring to Ida, but Jack said: 

“No, we’ll wait for her to call.  If she wants it very much she’ll come.”

“But why don’t you want me to give it to her?”

“Well, I’ll tell you some other time,” and with that evasive answer Cora had to be content.

Several days passed, and Ida did not come, but Jack would not consent to Cora returning the ring to her.  In the meanwhile the young people had discussed over and over again the beautiful fete given by Cora, though the finding of the bonds and the story of the ring was kept within a small, select circle.  Ed Foster took the bonds to the bank and received for them part of the stock for which he had negotiated.  The rest, he said, would be held for him.

“And I’m pretty sure I’ll get the rest of my twenty thousand dollars back soon,” he said.  “At least, nearly all the cash.”

Mrs. Kimball went to the city to prepare for her trip to Bermuda, and it was a few days later, when some of the recent excitement had worn off, that Cora began to feel a sense of loneliness stealing over her.  Her mother seldom went away from home.

“Oh, dear!” she exclaimed as she sat in the library trying to be interested in a book.  “I wish something—­”

Out on the driveway a triumphant “honk-honk!” drew her attention.

“I hope that’s—­” she began, but she did not finish, for she saw the Robinson twins in a shining, new car, Bess at the wheel, as though she had been running one for months, and the sisters both attired in their becoming motoring costumes.

“Come on!” cried Bess as Cora leaned out of the window.  “Get your car and we’ll take a spin!  Isn’t ours a beauty?”

“Oh, isn’t it!” cried Cora delightedly.  “But I thought it wasn’t to come for a week.”

“We couldn’t help deceiving you, Cora, dear,” answered Belle.  “But you see—­”

“And you can run it all alone?” interrupted Cora.

“Yes, all by our lonelies,” answered Bess.  “You see, we wanted to surprise you, so we didn’t tell you exactly when it was coming.  When it arrived we got Paul—­I mean Mr. Hastings, of course—­we got him to give us lessons along a quiet road, where we never met any one who knew us.  And father is not a bit timid about us going out alone since Paul—­I mean—­”

“Never mind explaining,” broke in Cora with a laugh.

“Well, since Paul showed us how to run it.  Papa has taken a great notion to Paul,” finished Bess with the suspicion of a blush.