Cora paced up and down the piazza, in the true athletic way of cooling off.

“Why the wherefore?” asked Jack, surprised at the excitement so plainly shown, in spite of the girls’ attempts to hide it.

“Oh, just a race,” replied Cora indifferently.

“Out in the dark?” ’persisted Jack.

“Only across the hill,” went on Cora, while Bess giggled threateningly.

“Seems to me you took a queer time to race,” remarked the lad with a sly wink at Isabel.  “Who won out?”

“Oh, Cora, of course,” answered Isabel.  “She won—­in and out.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” spoke Jack’s sister.  “You didn’t do half badly, Belle.”

“Oh, I was laughing so I couldn’t run.”

“Cora said you were coming for her,” put in Bess with a smile.

Jack seemed disappointed that the subject was mentioned.

“Yes,” he said.  “She was very particular to specify the time.  It’s nine-thirty now, but I’m in no hurry,” and he looked about for a chair.

“But I am,” insisted Cora.

“Well, then,” added Jack a bit stiffly, “if you’re ready, suppose we run along.  Or, have you had enough running for this evening?”

“Plenty.  But I really must go, girls.  Be sure and be ready in the morning for—­well, you know what,” and she finished with a laugh.  “We want the Chelton folks—­”

“To sit up and take notice, I suppose,” put in Jack quickly.  “Pardon the slang, ladies, but sometimes slang seems to fit where nothing else will.”

The twins managed to whisper a word or two into Cora’s ear as she said good-night and left with her brother.

They had had such a splendid time at the garage.  It was the run back home, over the railroad embankment, that had caused all their flurry and excitement.  And, though they had not left the auto salesrooms until five minutes before the time Cora had appointed for her brother to meet her, they had actually managed to reach home before Jack called, so that he could have no suspicion of their visit to the garage.

Paul Hastings, the young man whom they had encountered on their visit to the automobile place, had proved a most interesting youth—­he appeared to know many things besides the good and bad points of the average car.

Mr. and Mrs. Perry Robinson, parents of the Robinson twins, happened to be out that evening, so that, even to them, the visit to the garage was a profound secret, and there was no need of making any explanations.

That night, in her sleep, Elizabeth was heard to mutter “The clutch!  Throw in the clutch!”

And Isabel actually answered, also in dream language: 

“Jam down the brake!”

But Cora, across the fields, in her own cool, out-of-doors sleeping apartment, built on a broad porch, did not dream.  She just slumbered.

It was a delightful morning in early June, and the air seemed sprinkled with scented dew, when Cora Kimball drove up to the Robinson home in her new automobile.