"And the boys very kindly offered to come with me," ended Jack.
"It's very good of them to spare the time," said Cora, with a
decidedly grateful look at Walter.
"As if we wouldn't!" he said, half indignantly.
And so the cars rolled on until they turned in at the gateway of the
Kimball home.
"Is she any better, Mother?" asked Cora, when Jack's mother had
kissed him, and held him off at arms' length to get a better look at
him.
"Who, Cora? Oh, Inez Ralcanto? Yes, she is much better. A good
meal was her most pressing need."
"Inez!" murmured Jack. "Charming name. Lead me to Inez!"
"Jack!" cried Cora, in shocked accents.
His mother only smiled. It sounded like the Jack of old, and she was
hopefully feeling that he was not as ill as she had been led to fear.
"Did she say anything about herself?" asked Bess, who with Belle and
Harry had now come in.
"Yes, she told me her story, and I think she is anxious to repeat it
to you girls," said Mrs. Kimball, looking at the Robinson twins.
"Us?"' cried Belle. "Why us in particular?"
"I don't know, but she said one of you had mentioned something about
a West Indian Island--"
"Sea Horse," explained Bess, in a low voice.
"That's it--such an odd name," went on Mrs. Kimball. "And she is
anxious to know more about your plan of going there. I could not
tell her--having heard only the vaguest rumors about your trip, my
dears.
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