"Oh, Jack! Please don't!" begged his sister. "If it was my fault,
I'm ready to apologize."

"Your fault!" exclaimed Walter. "It wasn't your fault at all. It
was--er--well, Sid and Ida were to blame."

"That's the way it looked to me," declared Cora.

Ida stared at Jack's sister for a moment, and then, with an open
sneer on her face, turned deliberately away.

"Oh, I'm so glad we escaped, anyhow!" ejaculated Mary Downes. Her
voice attracted Sid's attention. He had not noticed the little work
girl before. At first he appeared to scowl, and then he smiled most
pleasantly. The action was not lost upon Belle, though Cora,
puzzling over Ida's manner, had not seen it.

"Come on, get in, girls," called Walter from his seat in the touring
car. "No use standing there in the sun."

"You've got to tow me," ordered Sid in a peremptory manner.

"Got to?" repeated Walter, with a curious inflection.

"Hush!" whispered Cora. "Let's do it, Walter. Jack is so angry at
him that I'm afraid something will happen."

"Very well. Just as you say," replied Walter gallantly.

Jack turned away in disgust. He was evidently trying hard to keep