“Who on earth can that be at this hour of the night?” she wondered, as she raised herself on her elbow to listen.
The knocking continued, and as nobody else seemed awake to answer it, Cora slipped out of bed, donned a kimono, and softly woke Bess and Belle.
“Go away and let me sleep,” murmured Bess, turning over on her pillow.
“There’s somebody knocking at the front door,” explained Cora. “I’m going down to see who it is, and I want you girls to go with me.”
“You might get hurt!” protested Bess, wide awake now.
“Nonsense!” laughed Cora. “Burglars don’t usually announce their coming by knocking at the door. Besides, I’ll find out who it is before I open. Slip on your kimonos and come along.”
They obeyed, not without some inward shrinking.
“Don’t you think you ought to wake the boys?” asked Belle, hesitating on the landing.
“I couldn’t do that without waking the whole house, Aunt Betty and all,” answered Cora. “Besides, the boys would have the laugh on us and try to patronize us. We don’t want to be looked on as a lot of cowards.”
Both of the sisters seemed to be perfectly willing just at that moment to be included in that ignominious category, but they were accustomed to follow where Cora led, and they went down the stairs, their slippered feet making no noise.
The knocking still continued, though it seemed weaker than at first.
Cora, with her lighted bedroom candle in her hand, softly approached the door, which was secured by a double lock and also by a heavy chain.
“Please let me in,” came in a woman’s voice from outside.
“Nina,” was the answer. “Oh, please let me in!”
Cora unfastened the chain and turned the key, and as she opened the door the gypsy girl staggered into the bungalow.
The Motor Girls caught the gypsy girl as she was about to fall and seated her in a chair.
“Out in this pouring rain!” ejaculated Belle.
The newcomer presented a pitiable appearance. Her gaudy apparel was torn and bedraggled, her wet hair clung about her face, and she was gasping with exhaustion.
“I had to come!” she panted. “I was afraid!”
Cora had formed her plans with quick decision.
“We must keep this to ourselves for to-night, girls,” she said in a low voice. “She’d be miserable and embarrassed if the boys should come down. We’ll tell them all about it to-morrow. The first thing to do is to get her up in our rooms and give her some dry clothes. Then we’ll get her something to eat and drink and put her to bed. She can tell us her story later.”