Excerpt
A STRANGE MESSAGE
Uproarious laughter from the girls with the wild flowers arousedCora. Rob Roland was gone.
Had she fainted? Was that roaring in her ears just awakened nerves?
"Cora! Oh, Cora! We had the most darling time," Bess wasbubbling. "You should have been along. Such a dear old farmer.He showed us the queerest tables. And he had the nicest son.Cora - What is the matter?"
"Oh," lisped Ray, "another Co-Ed message over the telephone."
"Cora, dear," exclaimed Gertrude, "we should not have left you all alone. Are you ill?"
"Cora! Cora!" gasped Adele.
"Cora, dear!" sighed Tillie.
"Oh, Cora!" moaned Belle. "What has happened?"
"Cora, darling," cried Maud, "who has frightened you?"
"Cora Kimball," called Daisy, "have you been drinking too much tea?"
"Too little," murmured Cora. "Will some of you girls leave off biting the air, and make a good cup of tea?"
There was a wild rush for the alcohol lamp; every one wanted to make the good cup of tea.
"I saw a runabout moving away as we came up," said Ray. "I hope,Cora, your caller was not obnoxious."
"Oh, just an autoist," replied Cora indifferently. "I did not take the trouble to brew tea for one solitary man." The color was coming back into her cheeks now, and with the return of animation her scattered senses attempted to seize upon the strange situation.
Jack and Clip to be arrested for abduction!
Could that fellow have known what he was saying?
If only Jack would call her up on the telephone. She had left word for him to do so, no matter how late the hour might be when he should return home.
"Now drink every sip of this," commanded Adele, as she turned on the lights and fetched Cora a steaming cup of the very best Grotto Hyson. "There is nothing for shaken nerves better than perfectly fresh tea, and, you see, we make it without soaking the leaves."
"It is delightful," said Cora, sipping the savory draught. "I must learn how to make tea this way - it is so different from the home-brewed variety."
Gertrude sat close to the reclining girl. "Is there nothing I can do, Cora?" she asked. "No message I can send?"
"Yes," whispered Cora; "you can manage to get the girls out of here before you and I leave for the night. I want to use the telephone privately."
Gertrude understood. She had not been a roommate with Cora Kimball for two years without knowing something of her temperament. She pressed her friend's hand gently, then said loud enough for the others to hear:
"We will soon have to get our machines under cover. Tillie says her grandfather has all sorts of sheds over around his country place. In fact, he has a regular shed-farm. Cora, I am just dying to try running a motor. Would you trust me to get the Whirlwind in the shed safely?"
"Of course I would, Gertrude," and Cora jumped up from the wicker divan. "I would suggest that some one go along, though - perhaps Ray. She has had some experience, and you know the Whirlwind"
"Is not a prize-package machine," interrupted Gertrude. "All right, Cora. I will humbly take instructions....