Bess could scarcely be motioned to silence, for the "little mahogany man" came to close the door of the tonneau, incidentally to look over his customers.
"If you come again in a day or so," he said to Cora, "I will have tables," and he rolled his eyes as if the tables were to come from no less a place than heaven itself. "Oh, such tables!"
"I may," replied Cora vaguely1. "But I fancy I may have a seaman's table made. I would not be particular about an original."
"Wait, wait!" exclaimed the man. "If you do not care for an original I could make a copy. The one I am to get is something very, very original, and I will have it here. There is no law against making one like it."
"Well," said Cora, "I will be in Breakwater for a few days, and I may call in again. There," as he handed in her blue plates, "these are splendid. Mother has a collection of Baronials."
Then they started off.
Bess drove up to the Whirlwind.
"Why in the world didn't you ask who had ordered the table?" she almost gasped3. "If you knew that you could easily have traced it."
"Wait, wait!" exclaimed Cora, in tones so like those of the shop proprietor4 that the girls all laughed heartily5. "I will go to the shop again, and then I will see. Perhaps I will get the original—and then—well, wait—just wait."
"You are a natural born clue hunter!" declared Daisy, "and I am just dying to get back to Aunt May's to tell Duncan."
"Now see here, girls," called Cora very seriously, so that all in-the different machines might hear her, "this is a matter that must not be mentioned to any one. It would spoil all my plans if the merest hint leaked out. Now remember!" and Cora spoke6 with unusual firmness; "I must have absolute secrecy7."
Every girl of them promised. What is dearer to the real girl than a real secret—when the keeping of it involves further delights in its development?
Once back at Bennet Blade the girls whispered and whispered, until Cora declared they would all, forsooth, be attacked with laryngitis, if they did not cease "hissing," and she called upon Doctor Bennet to bear out her statement.
Duncan was going to Chelton, and of course he took the trouble to ask what he might do there for the Chelton girls.
What he might do? Was there anything he might not do? The Robinson girls declared that their mail had not been forwarded, and they could not trust to mails, anyhow, since their father's papers had been lost. Would it be too much trouble for him just to call? To tell their mother what a perfectly8 delightful9 time they were having, and so on.
And Maud Morris hated to bother him, but could he just stop at Clearman's and get her magazine? She was reading a serial10, and simply could not sleep nights waiting for the last instalment.
Of course he would go to see his uncle, Dr. Bennet, Sr. In fact, it was with Dr. Bennet he had the appointment; and when Daisy started to entrust11 him with her messages to her father, he insisted that she write them down—no normal brain could hold such a list, he declared.
Ray was what Bess termed "foxy." She did not ask him to do a single thing. "She thinks he will fetch her a box of candy, or a bottle of perfume. That's Ray," declared Bess to Belle12.
Cora certainly wanted to send many messages, with the opportunity of having them go first-hand. It did seem such a long time since she had seen Jack13; then there was Hazel, poor child, penned up with a sick brother. And Wren14 and Clip. Why couldn't Cora just run in to Chelton herself with Duncan?
The thought was all-conquering. It swayed every other impulse in Cora's generous nature. Why should she stop at the thought of propriety15? Was it not all right for her to ride with Doctor Bennet, to reach Chelton by noon and return before night?
She must go. She would go if every motor girl went along with her.
Mrs. Bennet was one of those dear women who seem to take girls right to her heart. As I have said, she was small and rosy16, with that never-fading bloom that sometimes accompanies the rosy-cheeked, curly-headed girl far into her womanhood. Cora would go directly to her, and tell her. She would abide17 by her judgment18.
Mrs. Bennet simply said yes, of course. And then she added that Cora might start off without letting the girls know anything about it. That would save a lot of explanation.
How Cora's heart did thump19! Duncan was going in his machine, and, like all doctors, he always preferred to have a man drive—his chauffeur20 was most skilful—doctors, even when young in their profession, do not willingly risk being stalled.
But in spite of Cora's one guiding rule—"When you make up your mind stick to it"—she had many misgivings21 between that evening when her plans were made, and the next morning when she was to start off with Duncan Bennet. The other girls had gone out to an evening play in Forest Park, one of the real attractions of Breakwater, and at the last moment Cora excused herself upon some available pretense22 so that she was able to get her things together and see that her machine was safely put up, and then be ready to start off in the morning before the other girls had time to realize she was going.
"It does seem," she reflected, "that I am always getting runaway23 rides." Then she recalled how Sid Wilcox actually did run away with her once, as related in the "Motor Girls." "And," she told herself, "I seem to like running away with boys."
This was exactly what worried Cora; she knew that others would be apt to make this remark. "But I cannot help it this time," she sighed. "I have to go to Chelton, or—"
Cora was looking very pretty. Excitement seems to put the match to the flickering24 taper25 of beauty, hidden behind the self-control of healthy maidenhood26. Her cheeks were aflame and her eyes sparkled so like Jack's when he was sure of winning a hard contest.
"Dear old Jack!" she thought. "Won't he be surprised to see me! That will be the best part of it. They will all be so surprised."
She went down to the study, where she was sure to find Duncan.
"I suppose your mother has told you of my mad impulse," she began rather awkwardly. "Do you think the folks will be glad to see me?"
What a stupid remark! She had no more idea of saying that than of saying: "Do you think it will snow?" But, somehow, when he put up his book and looked at her so seriously, she could not help blundering.
"They ought to be," he said simply. Then she saw that he was preoccupied—scarcely aware that she was present.
"I beg your pardon," he said directly, "but I was very busy thinking, just then."
"Oh, I should not have disturbed you," she faltered27. "I will go away at once. I just wanted to be sure that you would wait for me—not run off and leave me."
"Oh, do sit down," he urged. "My brain is stiff, and I've got to quit for to-night. I haven't told you what takes me to Chelton—in fact, I haven't told mother. You see, she thinks I am such a baby that I find it better not to let her know when I am on a case. But the fact is, I am just baby enough to want to tell some one."
He arranged the cushions in the big willow28 chair, and Cora sat down quite obediently. She liked Duncan—there was something akin2 to bravery behind his careless manner. "What he wouldn't do for a friend!" she thought.
"Your case?" asked Cora. "I am very ignorant on medical matters, but I should love to hear about the Chelton case. I fancy I know every one in Chelton."
"Well, you know Uncle Bennet, Daisy's father, is quite a surgeon, and he has been called in this case by Dr. Collins. It is a remarkable29 case, and he has asked me to come in also."
"It is that of a child who has been a cripple for some years, and who now is making such progress under the physical-training system that she promises to be cured entirely30.
"A child?" asked Cora, her heart fluttering.
"Yes; and I rather suspect that you know her." He seemed about to laugh. "Uncle mentioned your brother's name in his invitation for me to go in on the case."
"Oh, tell me," begged Cora, "is it Wren?"
"Just let me see," and he looked over some letters. "It seems to me it was some such fantastical name—yes, here it is. Her name is Wren Salvey."
"Oh, my little Wren! And Clip is doing all this! Oh, I must go! Is she going to be operated upon?"
"Seems to me, little girl," and the young doctor put his hand over hers as would an elderly physician, "that you are over excitable. I will have to be giving you a sedative31 if you do not at once quiet down. The child is not to be operated upon, as I understand it. It is simply what we call an observation case."
"But she is at our house—she has been there since I came away. Why, however can all that be going on at home and no one there but the housekeeper—"
"The child was at your house, but is now in a private sanitarium," he said quickly. "I have had the pleasure of being in close correspondence with your friend Clip."
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1
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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6
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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7
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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8
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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9
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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10
serial
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| n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的 | |
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11
entrust
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| v.信赖，信托，交托 | |
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belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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14
wren
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| n.鹪鹩；英国皇家海军女子服务队成员 | |
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15
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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18
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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thump
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| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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21
misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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22
pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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maidenhood
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| n. 处女性, 处女时代 | |
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27
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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28
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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31
sedative
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| adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西 | |
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