She would not venture to operate it herself in such cramped
quarters.

"There!" exclaimed Cora as Jack locked the shed door. "I hope
nobody steals it to-night. Did you take out the plug, Jack?"

"Here you are," and he handed her the brass affair that formed the
connection for the ignition system, and without which the car could
not be run. "Put it under your pillow, sis," he added. "Maybe you'll
have a gasolene dream."

They went into the house, where dinner was waiting for them. The
meal was a simple one, although the means of the little family were
ample for a most elaborate affair. But Mrs. Kimball preferred the
elegance of simplicity.

Mrs. Grace Kimball was a wealthy widow, a member of one of the
oldest and best known families in Chelton, which was a New England
town, not far from the New York boundary. Her husband had been
Joseph Kimball, a man of simple tastes and sterling principles. When
he had to leave her, with the two children, he said as he was
passing away:

"Grace, I know you will bring them up rightly--plainly and
honestly."

Plain in character, upright and fair, the two children had grown,
but, in personality, nothing could make either Jack or Cora Kimball
"plain." They were just simply splendid.