"There is no hurry, dear. You can go with them when they come back. They have to pass this way, don't you, Ed?" "Would you mind, Cora," said Ed suddenly, "if the gentleman outside asked you a few private questions?" "A reporter!" exclaimed Ray, all excitement. "Dear me! I do hope he won't ask for our pictures. Mother would never permit it." Ed smiled broadly. He looked a sort of assent, but did not otherwise express it. Cora stepped up to the auto, whereat the man left his place, and, under pretext of walking along idly, and perhaps thus gaining Cora's "private ear," he was soon out of reach of those on the porch. "It is like a double robbery," he said after exchanging some preliminary remarks, "and the child is disconsolate. Her mother is sure it was not stolen, but lost, while we feel otherwise. It seems there is a handsome young man, a cousin of the child's, interested. His father is a lawyer--the lawyer who has the case against Mr. Robinson. Now this book--the promise book--contained the names of those who visited the cottage on the day that the papers were taken out of the mailbag. It is comparatively easy to guess the sequence." "You mean they might call on those whose names appear in the book?" asked Cora, beginning to see something of the complex situation. "Yes, and more than that. They would obtain valuable information from that little book--a clear description of the missing table. If they can find it they will be able to keep the property where it is now--in the possession of Rob Roland, Wren Salvey's rival cousin." "Rob Roland!" exclaimed Cora. "Why, he was in the party at Robinson's the other evening. He was even attentive to a friend of ours." "To whom, may I ask?" inquired the detective politely. "A Miss Thayer, a young student," she replied. "Miss Thayer! I heard her name mentioned in court this morning. Is she a friend of yours?" "Yes, indeed!" exclaimed Cora, now alarmed. "What could be said of Cecilia Thayer?" "Why, she has been on very intimate terms with the Salvey child, and lawyers devise all sorts of schemes, you know, to meet their own ends. It was hinted that Miss Thayer might know where the missing promise book was." "Clip take that from Wren! Impossible!" cried Cora. "Oh, this is all a mistake! I must go back. I cannot go on and let Clip be blamed for stealing the promise book." CHAPTER XV ROB ROLAND "Cora Kimball!" Ed Foster stood up every inch of his height. He was always tall, but now, facing the girl whose name he had so vehemently spoken, he seemed a veritable giant. Cora wanted to be firm; she meant exactly what she said when she declared she would abandon the tour of the motor girls, and go back to Chelton to help Cecilia Thayer out of her difficulty. But, after all, Cora was only a girl, and Ed was a great, strong man--he ought to know. "If you cannot trust me, Cora, and allow me to help Clip, I really think you are not doing justice to Jack's friend."