“Thank you, my dear big sister.
“But,” Cordie exclaimed suddenly, “I must not tell them. It would never do. They wouldn’t let me——”
Suddenly checking her speech as if about to unwittingly reveal a secret, she changed the subject abruptly. “Please tell me of your adventure,” she said.
“My adventure?” smiled Lucile. “Compared with yours, it was no adventure at all—merely an episode. However, since it throws some light on a mystery and reveals the whereabouts of a bit of stolen property, I must tell you about it.”
Then, while Cordie leaned back among the cushions, her eyes half closed as if she were day dreaming, Lucile told of her experience with the Mystery Lady.
“My iron ring!” exclaimed Cordie, sitting bolt upright as Lucile came to that part of the story. “My iron ring! The old mischief! I might have known! I——”
Again Cordie checked herself.
“Might have known what?” asked Lucile.
“Might have known that someone had stolen it, I suppose,” finished Cordie lamely. “Anyway, someone did, didn’t they? And isn’t it funny that she should have a diamond set in it? Wouldn’t it be a joke to come upon her wearing it? Wouldn’t it, though? I’d march right up and say, ‘Lay-d-e-e give me the ring! You stole it. My precious, my onliest, only iron ring!’” She threw back her head and laughed.
Lucile joined her in the laugh, and with this forgot for a time that Cordie had said something very unusual about the ring and the lady who had taken it. At last Cordie broke the silence: