ave up her business. I heard some remarks about how very
devoted she was to that head waiter."

"Oh, Miss Robbins would never marry a waiter!" declared Belle. "Why,
she's a practicing physician!"

"But sometimes the practice is hard and uncertain," Mr. Rand reminded
them. "I shouldn't be surprised when I go back there to straighten up
accounts to find the doctor and the waiter 'doing nicely.'"

"But how is the man we--that is--who went to the hospital?" asked Cora
eagerly. "He was very badly hurt."

"Oh, Jim, wasn't it? Why, he is getting along! By crackie!" and he
slapped his knee again, "I have it! It was you who took Jim to the
hospital! Now, I see! A motor girl with black hair and a maroon
machine! Now, I have, more than ever, reason to be your friend, Miss
Kimball. Jim has been with me for years, and had he died as the result
of an accident at Restover--well, I shouldn't have gotten over it
easily."

"But some one had to take him," said Cora modestly.

"Oh, I know all about that. That's like your excuse for speeding, and
it's like Betty again. Wait until she hears that you saved Jim."

"One would never know we were towing a car," intervened Hazel. "We
sail along so beautifully."

"But you babies have been awake all night," said Mr. Rand suddenly.
"Now, couldn't you just tuck in somehow and sleep a wink or two? You
won't get a chance when you see Betty. She's a regular
phonograph--friendship's her key."

"I am sleepy," confessed Cora.

"I'm tired," admitted Belle.

"And I'm dead," declared Hazel.

"Then it's settled. You are each to go to sleep instantly, and if
those fellows blow that horn again, I won't let them in to Betty's
party," and Mr. Rand, in his wonderful, fatherly way, seemed to tuck
each girl into a perfectly comfortable bed. "Now sleep! No more----"

"Gypsies!" groaned Cora, but although he said not a word in reply, he
knew perfectly well just what she meant.

CHAPTER XV

THE GYPSY'S WARNING

It was at Betty's party. And as Mr. Rand had told our friends, Betty
was a wonderful girl--for being happy and making others happy.

Now, here it was less than a year from the time of her dear mother's
death, and on her own birthday, of course, she would not have a party,
but when Daddy came in with his arms full of company and bundles, as
Betty put it, of course she turned right in and had an impromptu
party--just to make Daddy happy.

It was an easy matter to gat