“There’s Jack!” exclaimed both girls at once.
“Let’s tell him,” suggested Bess, who was not always able to conceal her interest in Cora’s handsome brother.
“Oh, no, don’t,” whispered Cora, as Jack was almost at the door of the sitting room. “It will be a joke to plan it all out, and surprise the boys!”
But Jack was actually tumbling into the room before he saw Bess. He, too, was evidently “too full of good news to keep!”
“Oh, sis!” he yelled, still unconscious of the presence of Bess, “take my hand and squeeze it, or I shall ‘bust.’ It’s too good to be true, and too good not to be true. We are going——”
Then his eye fell upon Cora’s visitor. Instantly and in a boy’s inimitable way he “pulled himself together” and finished: “We are going down to the post-office this evening!”
“Oh, is that all you were going to say?” asked Bess, in some disappointment, for it was evident that Jack had some news.
“Well, not quite all,” he replied with an air of mystery, “only I happened to hear certain peculiar whispers and admonitions as I was coming in, and I guess girls aren’t the only ones who can keep a secret. I’ll tell if you’ll tell,” he added.
“We’ve nothing to tell; have we, Cora?” and Bess looked as innocent as possible.
“How could you ever imagine such a thing, Jack?” inquired his sister.