“Now wouldn’t you like to have it?” she answered mischievously, holding a letter just out of his reach.

“Where is mine?” demanded Sam.

“Oh, I thought you wouldn’t want that so I tore it up,” she answered, with a twinkle in her eyes.

“If you don’t give me that letter, Dora, something is going to happen to you,” went on Tom; and now he caught her by the wrist.  “You know the forfeit—­ a kiss!”

“All right, take your letter, Mr. Can’t-Wait,” she returned, and handed him the missive.

“But you said you had one for me!” broke in Sam.  “Come now, Dora, don’t be mean.”

“Oh, Sam, it’s only a bill.”

“A bill!  You are fooling!” And then as his face fell, she did not have the heart to tease him longer, and brought the letter forth from her handbag.

As the lads had anticipated, the communications were from Grace and Nellie.  In them the girls said that the session at the seminary was over, and that the day previous they had returned to their home on the outskirts of Cedarville.  Both had passed in their examinations, for which they were exceedingly thankful.

“But they haven’t found that four-hundred-dollar diamond ring yet,” said Sam, after he had finished his letter.  “It certainly is a shame!”

“It’s as great a mystery as the disappearance of our bonds,” was Dick’s comment.

“What has Nellie to say about it, Tom?” questioned Dora, anxiously; for even though she was married and away from them, her two cousins were as dear to her as ever.

“She doesn’t say very much,” answered Tom.  “No one has seen or heard anything about the ring.”

“But what of Miss Harrow?  How has she treated Nellie since the fire?”

“She says Miss Harrow has not been very well, and consequently did not take part in the final examinations.  Now the teacher has gone to Asbury Park, on the New Jersey coast, to spend the summer.”

“Perhaps that mystery never will be solved,” said Sam.  “It’s a jolly shame, that’s all I’ve got to say about it!”

After dinner that evening, as it was exceedingly warm, none of the young folks felt like staying in the hotel.  Dick proposed that they take a stroll up Broadway.

“We can walk till we get tired,” he said, “and then if you feel like it, we can jump into a taxi and take a ride around Central Park before we retire.”

“That will be nice,” returned Dora; and Tom and Sam said it would suit them, too.

As usual, upper Broadway—­ commonly called The Great White Way—­ was ablaze with electric lights.  As the young folks strolled along, the great, flaring advertising signs perched on the tops of many of the buildings interested them greatly.

“I heard yesterday that some of those signs cost ten thousand dollars and more,” observed Sam.  “What a lot of money to put into them!”

“So it is, Sam.  But think of all the money some firms spend in newspaper and magazine advertising,” answered Dick.