“Do not know what you want, but will be there.
“He’ll be astonished when you tell him what brought you,” said Pepper, when the young major showed him the communication.
There was a small village green in Cedarville, with a number of benches and a bandstand, and Jack had requested Carey to meet him there. The young major was on time, but he found the Pornell student ahead of him.
“Well, what do you want that is so mysterious?” demanded Carey, abruptly. “I haven’t much time. I’ve got another engagement inside of an hour.”
“What I’ve got to say, Carey, won’t take an hour,” answered Jack. “In fact, it won’t take me five minutes.”
“You have a bracelet belonging to Flossie Ford.”
At this announcement Will Carey was startled and showed it. He gazed at the young major hesitatingly.
“Want to worry me into doing something, I suppose,” and the Pornell Academy student tried to put a sneer into his tone.
“I simply want you to give the bracelet back, that’s all. You’ve got to do it.”
“No, two or three weeks ago. I didn’t want her old bracelet. I simply took it to tease her, that’s all.”
“You gave the bracelet back two or three weeks ago?” said Jack, slowly. “She told me yesterday that you still had it.”
“It isn’t so! I returned it to her three or four days after I took it.”
“I didn’t send it. I put it in a box of chocolates and gave it to her.”
“It’s queer she didn’t say anything about that,” mused Jack. Carey’s statement mystified him a good deal.
“Is that all you wanted to see me about?” demanded the Pornell youth.
“Then I’ll be going,” and without another word Will Carey walked away across the green and down the street leading to the steamboat landing. Jack made as if to follow him, then changed his mind and turned in the direction of Putnam Hall.
“There is a mistake somewhere,” he told his chums. “I guess I had better see Flossie Ford again before I go further in this matter.”
“You might write her a letter,” suggested Pepper.
“Mrs. Ford might not like us to be sending her daughters letters, Pep. No, I’ll talk it over, the first chance I get.”
The chance came sooner than expected. The chums were out on Monday practicing for the bicycle race when they saw a buggy ahead of them. They spurted up, intending to pass the vehicle, when they discovered that it contained the Ford girls, who had been down to the Cedarville post-office.