I see now it was where
should I put her to ride."

"Let her come with us!" exclaimed Bess. "You can take one of our suit
cases in your car, and that will leave plenty of room for your cousin."

"I guess that's all we can do now," said Cora. "Oh, dear, I thought I had
fixed everything!"

"Don't fuss, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Fordam. "It will be all right. Your
car is so big that I'm really afraid of it."

So it was arranged, and when a few other forgotten matters had been
settled, Cora gave the last instructions to the care-taker of the Kimball
home, and blew a blast on her auto horn as a signal to start.

"At last we are off!" sighed Eline, as she sat beside Cora. "It seems as
if time moves slowest of all at the end."

"It really does," agreed Cora. "I'm glad we are able to start. When I saw
that blaze in the garage--Oh, my dear, you've no idea how my heart sank.
It almost stopped beating."

"I can imagine so. What a pretty suit you have," and she glanced
admiringly at Cora's smart motoring costume. It was a light biscuit
shade, of a material that would stand wear, and not show the stains of
travel.

"Your own is fully as pretty--perhaps a little too nice," returned
Cora. Eline had made rather elaborate preparations for her Eastern
trip, as regarded dress. But she was within good taste, for she ran
much to harmonizing shades--perhaps too much so.

"Are we going at this snail's pace all day?" cried Jack to his sister.
"Can't you move faster?"

"We want the good people of Chelton to have a chance to admire us," called
Belle.

"Shall we pass her?" asked Norton of Walter. "My car can easily get ahead
of the _Whirlwind_."

"Don't do it," Walter advised. "I don't believe Cora would like it. And
really, she arranged this affair, so she ought to make the pace."

"All right," assented the new lad, and he had the good sense to see the
wisdom of the advice.

They passed the Robinson home, the twins waving and being waved at, and
then the four autos turned out on the main road that led into a glorious
country--a country doubly glorious this morning because of the rain of
the night before.

They were really on the road at last, and as Cora glanced down it, her
gloved hands firm on the steering wheel, she could not help wondering if
it was this road that the strange and perhaps misunderstood woman had
taken when she fled so silently from the Kimball house. Also Cora wondered
if she would ever meet her again. The