"All right, Clip?" he asked with evident concern. "I don't want you to go over that lonely road if you do not feel just like it. I can go with you." "You!" she exclaimed. "Why, Jack Kimball, what are you thinking about?" and she laughed airily. "If you want to finish the impression we started the other day, just take another ride with me. No, Jack, my dear boy, I am very much all right, and very much obliged. But I must hurry off. Whatever will my little brown Wren think of me?" She stepped into the car. "Good-by, girls," she called. "I am so sorry I delayed you, but so glad we met. Take care of the ram, boys, and am I eligible for the trophy? I am a motor girl, you know." "Of course you are," said Jack, before the others could speak. "All motor girls are eligible." "Ida Giles, too?" asked Bess. The moment she had spoken she could have bitten her tongue. Why could she never hide her feelings about Jack and Clip? "And, girls," called Cecilia, who was starting now, "don't forget about your promise. Wren is counting on results." "What promise?" asked Ed. "Oh, don't you know?" replied Cora. "Well, I am afraid Jack will have to tell you. We really have not another moment. Are you ready, girls?" "Why, our strange promise," put in Maud, who was glad to have a "real remark" to make to Ed. "We promised a little girl we would find an old table for her and we have just ransacked the farmer's house, hoping to find it." Cora burst out laughing. Such an explanation! "Why, I'll promise a 'little girl' that," said Ed, taking up Cora's laugh. "Any qualifications? Might it be a time-table?" Maud pouted. She stepped into Cora's car, evidently disgusted with boys in general. Gertrude had something to say to Walter, and was obliged to stand up on the hay rack to do so, as the young man would not let go the rope that held the ram. There was a sudden hum of an auto, and Clip was gone. "Thought she had a sick relative," murmured Bess. "So she has," said Jack, who overheard the remark. "But she came near neglecting her this morning. That was a close call." "Oh, yes," said Bess with a curled lip. "It seems to me everything Cecilia does is close." "Bess Robinson!" exclaimed Jack. "Do you want me to hug you? You have been treating me shamefully for weeks past. Now, own up. What have I done?" Jack knew how to restore Bess to good humor, and his success this time was marked. "You ridiculous boy!" exclaimed Bess. "You know perfectly well what I mean." And Jack did. CHAPTER XIII AT THE GROTTO "We have dropped something," said Cora as the party started off again. "Yes," replied Gertrude, "I agree with Ray that the boys are jolly. We miss them already." "Hush!" cautioned Cora. "We are to have nothing to do with boys on this trip." She laughed at her own assertion. "Nothing more to do with them?" asked Belle. Bess kept her machine within talking distance.