Cora turned her head quickly, and called:
"Come in!"
A maid entered, bearing on a silver server a note, the manila
envelope of which proclaimed it as a telegraph message.
"Oh, a telegram!"' gasped Cora, and her fingers trembled, in spite of
her, as she opened it.
She gave a hasty glance at the written words, and then cried:
"Oh, it was for mother, but the envelope had 'Miss Kimball' on it.
However, it doesn't matter, and I'm glad I opened it first. Oh,
dear!"
"Bad news?" asked Bess, softly.
"It's about my brother Jack," said Cora, and there was a sob in her
voice. "He has suffered a nervous breakdown, and will have to leave
college at once!"
CHAPTER II
MORE NEWS
"Oh, Cora!" murmured Bess, rising from, the chair, and it was with no
easy effort that she did so, for she had allowed herself to sink back
again into its luxurious depths. "Oh, Cora dear! Isn't that perfectly
dreadful!"
Cora Kimball did not answer. She was staring at the fateful
telegram, reading it over and over again; the words now meaningless
to her. But she had grasped their import with the first swift
glance. Jack was ill--in trouble.
Bess put her arms around her chum, and slipped one plump hand up on
the tresses tangled by the wind on the motor ride.
"Can I do anything to help--your mother is she--"
"Of course!" exclaimed Cora with a sigh. "I must tell mother at
once.
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