"Wait till Cora comes down," said Tillie. "Won't she be surprised that I have already been over the meadow, and gotten so many beautiful, tall grasses!"
Mrs. Bennet appeared at that moment.
"My dears," she began, "I have a surprise for you. Cora has taken a run home—she really had to go, but she will be back by nightfall. Now, there," to Daisy, "you must not pout. Cora has been a faithful little captain, and, from what I understand, there have been a great many things to demand her attention at home. Go right on with your plans, and make her car the very prettiest, and when she gets back she will have some reason to be proud of her allies. I have arranged to be at home all day, and to do whatever I can to assist you, in Cora's place."
The girls were utterly surprised, but what could they say? Show displeasure to so affable a hostess? Never!
What they thought was, of course, a matter of their own personal business.
CHAPTER XXV
A WILD RUN'
"Speed her up, Tom," ordered Dr. Duncan Bennet to his chauffeur, as he and Cora started out that bright, beautiful morning. "We will have all we can do to cover the ground and make home by nightfall."
"Without a single stop," remarked Cora, "I calculated we could do it.
Do you think there is any possibility of us failing to get back?"
"Tom knows no end of short cuts," said Duncan, settling himself down comfortably. "We take quite a different route to that which you girls came over."