At the word "adventure," Alexander pricked up his ears.
"What's a lot of girls got to do with adventures?" he inquired skeptically.
"Just wait till you hear!" declared Corinne, and Margaret seconded her with:
"Oh, dear, Alec, you'll just go wild over this! And it ought to have a boy in it, too! Oughtn't it, girls?" But the twins remained obdurate. To allow their declared enemy to share their most cherished secret seemed to them the height of madness. But while Margaret was reasoning with Alexander, Corinne whispered to them:
"You'd better do it, I tell you! He knows too much already, and you don't know but what he might give the whole thing away to Sarah sometime!" And this final argument brought them speedily round to her point of view.
"All right!" they agreed. "Alexander, you can become a member of our secret society if you want to, and Corinne will tell you all about it."
And Alexander, his curiosity now thoroughly aroused, offered no further objection to the honor thus thrust upon him.
Corinne undertook to explain the whole matter to him, showed him their discovery, explained how they had deciphered the code, and then proceeded to read him the translation. His pat, slangy comments on it often moved her to laughter, and when it came to the mention of the song, he immediately wanted to hear it, for—it was Alexander's chief merit—he loved music with the appreciation of a born musician. It happened that among the books Corinne had brought Margaret was the collection of old songs, containing the one in question. She hunted this up now, and, going to the piano, played it over for him, while he stood at her side whistling the air.
"Say, I like that!" he commented when she had finished. "That's a great old tune! The words are a back-number of course, but they go with it fine!" He hummed it over again.
"Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Corinne. "Alexander is the only one who has exhibited the least interest in learning or even hearing that song!"