troubled. There had been a note in Grace's voice that she had never heard
before. Could it be possible that she really cared for Allen? But she
pushed the thought from her mind resolutely. If such a thing could have
been possible, she certainly would have discovered it before this. The
mere thought was nonsense of course. And yet she was troubled.

"Have some candy," Grace invited, breaking in upon her thoughts. "You
needn't stick up your nose at it to-day for I bought this fresh from the
store this morning."

"Who said I was going to stick up my nose?" said Betty, helping herself to
a chocolate that looked as if it might contain a nut and thankful for the
break in her not-too-pleasant reflections. "If you will think back just a
little, I think you will admit that I have been guilty very seldom of
sticking up my nose at anything--"

"Except Percy Falconer," finished Grace drolly, and they both laughed
merrily.

"Poor Percy!" said Betty, chewing her candy contentedly. "I suppose he
will hate us more heartily than ever now."

They were running some eight or ten miles from the town along a quiet
stretch of road, never dreaming of danger, when Betty's little racer nosed
around a bend in the road and came smack into it! Not twenty feet ahead of
them a man sprang into the middle of the road and leveled a revolver at
them! In one electrified instant they saw that the fellow wore a mask and
a slouch hat and looked for all the world like a brigand straight out of
some sensational moving picture.