Feeling this assurance she decided not to mention to any one at home the fact of his having stolen the ride. She resolved to ask Paul to keep it a secret, and she knew he would. As for Sid himself, if he did boast of it, few would credit his story, for he did not bear a very good reputation for truth, and he was constantly getting into scrapes. Cora especially hoped Jack would not hear of the escapade. Now Cora, who had been sitting in an easy chair, trying to read a book, decided to take the hammock for a change. She did not feel like reading. She wore a simple frock of white muslin, and her hair was let down in a most becoming fashion, in long, loose braids, all combining to make her particularly girlish-looking. Cora was taking what she called her "loll." This particular form of rest, she always declared, was the only sort a healthy girl could reasonably enjoy. "When you rest, why, just rest," she used to say to Isabel Robinson, who, on account of her nervous temperament, had rather been overdone with "rest cure" ideas. Isabel delighted in such terms as "relaxation" and "siesta," while Cora reveled in her "loll." A box of "deadly chocolates"--that is what Isabel would have called them--were at Cora's elbow, and she was just reaching for the tenth one, when Isabel herself, and her sister, sauntered along the path. "Come on up, girls," called out Cora. "But please don't ask me to move. I'm in the most delicious heap." "Exactly that!" exclaimed Isabel, who looked particularly pretty in a soft-blue summer gown, while Elizabeth was like some flower, in deep-pink muslin. "You do get into the most awful heaps, Cora, dear. But you never can rest without relaxing, and to do that--" "Belle!" exclaimed Cora, "that is precisely why you never rest--you never relax your brain. You're always thinking of resting and not doing it." Bess sank into a wicker chair and smothered the cushions. Bess was stout--"when she sat down," as Cora expressed it. "Got your car ordered yet?" asked the hostess, passing around the box of chocolates. Neither girl could resist them. "Oh, no," answered Belle. "Poor papa is in the greatest muddle. Every one in New City seems to have the best car to sell, and, as he wants a good one, he doesn't know which one to select." "Why not ask Jack?" suggested Cora. "He's had lots of experience." "Just what I proposed," replied Belle. "You, know how queer poor, dear papa is. He really dislikes motors." "Seen Ida lately?" asked Bess. "Not a sight of her," answered Cora. "I was hoping you might bring some news--not particularly about her, though, but some news. I am just pining for a real, choice bit." She passed the chocolates again. Bess took one, but her sister shook her head. "Well, as to news," remarked Bess, "we have heard that Sid Wilcox has a new machine." This was news indeed, after what that youth had said to Cora that very day. Or had he been only fooling her?