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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Princess Polly At Play, by Amy Brooks
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Princess Polly At Play
+
+Author: Amy Brooks
+
+Release Date: May 15, 2008 [EBook #25456]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCESS POLLY AT PLAY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |
+    | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+PRINCESS POLLY AT PLAY
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "They were out in the sunshine."]
+
+
+
+
+PRINCESS POLLY
+AT PLAY
+
+By AMY BROOKS
+
+AUTHOR OF
+"Princess Polly," "Princess Polly's Playmates," "Princess
+Polly at School," "Princess Polly by the Sea,"
+"Princess Polly's Gay Winter," etc.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+A.L. BURT COMPANY
+Publishers               New York
+Printed in U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1915, by
+THE PLATT & PECK CO.
+
+Printed in U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                 PAGE
+
+   I POLLY, ROSE AND GWEN                                  9
+
+  II WHO WAS IT                                           28
+
+ III LITTLE SEA NYMPHS                                    48
+
+  IV WHAT MAX DID                                         68
+
+   V WHAT MAX FOUND                                       87
+
+  VI THE SEA KING'S NYMPHS                               106
+
+ VII A WEDDING AT CLIFFMORE                              125
+
+VIII AUNT ROSE CALLS                                     144
+
+  IX AT AVONDALE                                         163
+
+   X THE SHIP COMES IN                                   182
+
+  XI LITTLE PITCHERS                                     201
+
+ XII MAX A STOWAWAY                                      220
+
+
+
+
+PRINCESS POLLY AT PLAY
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+POLLY, ROSE AND GWEN
+
+
+A Summer at Cliffmore!
+
+Princess Polly and Rose Atherton could think of little else.
+
+It was true that Avondale was a charming place in which to live, and
+there were pleasant schoolmates and merry times when Winter came.
+There were fine lawns and beautiful flowers everywhere, but Polly and
+Rose loved the shore, and surely the salt air was delightful, and the
+beach a lovely place on which to romp. There was Captain Seaford,
+whose little daughter, Sprite, had spent the winter at Avondale, and
+a pleasant little playmate and classmate she had been.
+
+She had returned to her home at Cliffmore, and now was counting the
+days when Princess Polly and Rose would arrive, and every morning she
+would stand in the doorway of her home on the beach, and look in the
+direction in which Avondale lay.
+
+It happened one morning that at the same moment that Sprite opened the
+door to look out, Princess Polly and Rose were talking of her. They,
+too, were out in the sunshine.
+
+"How pretty Sprite looked last Summer when she played that she was a
+little mermaid, and lay on the rocks looking down into the water, her
+long yellow hair hanging down over her shoulders," Polly said.
+
+"And the day that she invited me over to her house," said Rose, "her
+dress was light green, and she wore a string of coral around her neck.
+I thought she looked sweet then."
+
+"How we did enjoy her house! We never saw one like it. It was a ship's
+hulk, turned upside down, and divided up into rooms. Oh, but it was
+cosey!" Polly said.
+
+"And it won't be long before we'll be there at the shore, playing with
+Sprite just as we did last Summer," said Rose.
+
+A long time they stood talking. There were such delightful memories of
+Cliffmore, and so many pleasures to anticipate. There would be sailing
+trips on the "Dolphin," the yacht belonging to Captain Atherton, and
+Captain Atherton himself had hinted at some sort of merry-making that
+would occur at his fine home on the shore.
+
+"Uncle John doesn't say whether it is to be a party, or what it will
+be, but when I asked him if it would be fine, he took me on his knee,
+and he said:
+
+"'Rose, little Rose, it will be the brightest, the happiest event that
+I ever attended,' so I guess it will be fine, for Uncle John always
+means what he says," Rose concluded.
+
+"Oh, we can't help wondering what it will be like, and just when it
+will be," Princess Polly said, her hands tightly clasped and her eyes
+bright with excitement.
+
+"It's a lovely place to stay in, even if there wasn't a single thing
+planned for amusement, but when you know there'll be ever so many good
+times happening during the Summer, it makes us wild to start for
+Cliffmore."
+
+The sound of footsteps running made them turn, just as Gwen Harcourt
+came racing toward them.
+
+She was a little neighbor, so bold, so regardless of the feelings of
+others, so apt to tell outrageous stories, that Polly and Rose were
+not fond of her. She never stopped to question if she were welcome,
+but entered any house where the door stood open, and at once made
+herself quite at home, always remaining until she chose to go.
+
+She was evidently quite excited. Her short, curling hair blew about
+her face, and her cheeks were red.
+
+"What do you think?" she cried. "I've just come from that big house
+over there, where the people have just moved in. I couldn't tell if
+I'd like to know them, unless I went when I could see them, so this
+morning I went right up to the door, and as it wasn't locked, I opened
+it, and went in."
+
+"Why, Gwen Harcourt!" Rose exclaimed.
+
+"Well, what?" Gwen said pertly.
+
+"S'pose I was going to wait and wonder what those people were like? I
+guess not. I went right straight in and looked at them, so now I know.
+
+"The lady isn't much to look at, and she wasn't dressed up the least
+bit, and the baby that the nursemaid was holding was awful homely.
+
+"Its face was red, and its hair was sort of straight and stringy, and
+when it cried, and that was most all the time I was there, it made a
+perfectly horrid face.
+
+"There's a boy there, too, and I didn't like him very well," she
+continued. "He talked to me some, but he wants to do all the talking,
+and I don't like that. I want to talk most of the time, myself."
+
+Polly and Rose managed not to laugh.
+
+"Perhaps if you had been willing to listen, and let him talk more, you
+might have liked him better," Polly said.
+
+"No, I wouldn't!" Gwen said, stoutly, "for what little he did say made
+me mad. Think how rude he was! When I told him my whole _truly_ name
+was Gwendolen Armitage Harcourt, he just said:
+
+"'H'm! Is that so? Well, my name is Jona Jonathan Ebenezer Montgomery,
+and that beats your name all hollow.' The lady laughed, but she said:
+'Don't tease the little girl. That is not your name at all. Why not
+tell her what your real name is?'
+
+"He didn't do it. He just said: 'Oh, bother!' and ran out doors. I
+didn't like the boy, but the big room seemed duller after he went out,
+so after a while I slipped out, and when I saw you two talking, I came
+over here. What were you talking about?"
+
+"We were talking about the fine times we'll have at Cliffmore this
+Summer," Polly said, "and we can hardly wait to enjoy them."
+
+"I'd not care to go there," Gwen said, with a toss of her head.
+
+"Well, then," said Rose, "it's lucky you don't have to go there."
+
+"Yes, isn't it?" Gwen said, cheerfully. "I could if I wanted to. Mamma
+will go wherever I wish, that is if I just act horrid enough."
+
+"Why, what do you mean?" Polly asked, and Gwen laughed.
+
+"You're funny girls," she said. "Don't either of you know that the way
+to get your own way is to scream and be just as horrid as you can
+until your mamma 'gives in?'"
+
+"I'd not care to act like that," Princess Polly said, and Rose said:
+"Neither would I."
+
+"Well, I want my own way, all the time and everywhere, and that's the
+way I get it," declared Gwen, and she danced off down the avenue,
+humming as cheerfully as if she had told of doing pleasant things.
+
+"Isn't it queer'?" Rose said. "Gwen tells of being disagreeable, as if
+she felt proud of it."
+
+"Mrs. Harcourt does the same thing," said Primrose Polly. "She's
+always telling of horrid pranks, and rude things that Gwen says, and
+she tells them as if she thought Gwen very smart to act so. It isn't
+odd that Gwen behaves so badly, for she likes to act just perfectly
+horrid. She says so, and if she thinks her mamma likes it, what is
+there to make her stop?"
+
+"And Uncle John says, oh, I'd not tell exactly what he says, but he
+said only yesterday that he could not understand how any woman could
+let her little daughter grow up like a weed. He said Gwen was pretty
+to look at, but as unpleasant as a nettlebush. I'd not like anyone to
+say that of me," Rose said.
+
+"Well, no one ever would say that about you," Polly said lovingly.
+
+"Nor you," replied Rose.
+
+Then, their arms clasping each other, they slipped down the sidewalk.
+
+It was but a few days longer that they must wait before sailing to
+Cliffmore.
+
+The year before, they had made the trip by train, but this time they
+were intending to go a short distance by rail, and then, on Captain
+Atherton's yacht, complete the trip by water. It would be a delightful
+sail, and as every member of the party loved the water, it was sure to
+be a merry little sailing trip down the bay.
+
+Gwen Harcourt had not spoken truthfully when she had said that she
+would not wish to go to Cliffmore. Indeed, that very morning she had
+used her unpleasant method in an effort to coax her mother to go to
+Cliffmore, and for the first time in her little life, it had not
+worked.
+
+She had heard from Polly, Rose, and Sprite of the pleasure that they
+had enjoyed there, and she had at once decided that no other place
+could be as delightful.
+
+"I guess I can go there as well as they can," she had whispered to
+herself, and then, running up to the big living room she had first
+asked, then coaxed, and there, as a final effort, had screamed for a
+half hour. Mrs. Harcourt would, as usual, have quickly agreed at once
+to spend the Summer as Gwen wished, but it happened that other plans
+already made, rendered it impossible. The silly woman offered
+everything that she could think of to pacify Gwen, but Gwen declared
+that nothing would make up to her for the refusal to go to Cliffmore.
+
+Then when she found her screaming wholly useless, she dried her eyes,
+and rushed out and down the avenue to tell Polly and Rose that she
+would not care to go there.
+
+If she had waited a day longer to tell them it would have been as
+well, because Mrs. Harcourt, lest the disappointment might be too
+hard for Gwen, had, at great inconvenience, changed her plans, and on
+the following day she told Gwen that Cliffmore would be their summer
+home.
+
+Gwen did not rush out this time to tell the news.
+
+Had she not just said that she would not care to go there?
+
+"I'll say nothing about it, and when they get to Cliffmore, they'll be
+s'prised to find me there, but I'll act as if I'd known all along that
+I'd be there," thought Gwen.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt and Gwen went the next day, and thus it happened that
+when the "Dolphin" sailed up to the pier, the first person that Rose
+and Polly saw was Gwen, sitting high on the top of a tall post! It was
+a most successful surprise.
+
+"Hello!" she cried, with impish laughter, "I got here 'fore you did!"
+
+"Why so you did," Polly replied. "When did you come?"
+
+"Oh, I've been here some time," she said, laughing again.
+
+"Well, you've not been here a month, Gwen Harcourt!" said Rose. "It
+was only three days ago that you were in Avondale, and you said then
+that you'd not care to go to Cliffmore!"
+
+"Well, I didn't go," cried Gwen, "I've _come_, and I'm going to stay!"
+
+Of course Sprite had come to meet them, and as the three walked up the
+pier they saw that Gwen made no attempt to follow.
+
+She wished them to know that she was at Cliffmore, but having enjoyed
+their look of surprise, she preferred to keep her position on the
+post.
+
+It was so conspicuous that she knew that everyone coming up from the
+boats would surely see her, and beside that pleasure, she could stare
+at all the arrivals. Oh yes, her perch on the post delighted her.
+
+Not satisfied with staring at the people, she commenced to make
+remarks about them as they passed. As her remarks were largely
+directed at their clothes, they were not much pleased.
+
+"Oh, what big feet!" she said, when a big woman passed her, and to
+another she said: "What a funny hat."
+
+A fat man turned to frown at her when she said: "My! He must weigh a
+ton," and a girl with long red braids blushed hotly when Gwen cried:
+
+"Red! Red! Fire! Fire!"
+
+Her mother would have thought any other child uncouth and ill-bred,
+if she did any one of the many outrageous things that Gwen was always
+doing. In Gwen she thought it bright and smart, and Gwen held the same
+opinion, but a young sailor, happening along just in time to hear her
+say something about a Jack Tar, that was not quite pleasing, stopped
+for an instant, and looked into her bold, blue eyes.
+
+"Do you know what you need, you little Monkey?" he cried. "You need to
+have someone give you a big ducking, and then you'd learn not to be so
+smart."
+
+Gwen was too frightened to speak. She thought the sailor meant to give
+her the ducking that he said she needed, and she turned so pale that
+he let go his hold upon her, leaving her still sitting upon the post,
+but as he turned to go he shook his finger at her.
+
+"Not another word, sissy, or someone'll duck you, if I don't," he
+said.
+
+A long time she sat motionless upon the post until not only the
+sailor, but all of the people had left the pier. Then, looking
+cautiously around to learn if anyone was near, she slipped to the
+ground, and ran at top speed toward the hotel where she told a most
+remarkable tale of the sailor's rudeness to her, winding up by telling
+that he had been so mean as to duck her.
+
+"My dear little Gwen!" said her fond mamma.
+
+"Her serge frock seems rather dry for one that has just been plunged
+into the water," said a lady who sat near them on the piazza.
+
+"Oh, look at her shoes! They're dry too!" cried a small boy. "Say!
+When did you get your ducking?"
+
+"You stop laughing, Max Deland!" cried Gwen. "I guess I could tell
+whether he ducked me or not better than you could, for you weren't
+there!"
+
+"Oh, yes, you could _tell_!" cried the small boy, "but it might not be
+so, for all that, Gwen Harcourt."
+
+Mrs. Harcourt rose quickly, and taking Gwen by the hand, left the
+piazza, and went up to her room.
+
+"Strange that any woman would be so foolish as to credit a yarn like
+that even if it is her own child that tells it," said the lady who had
+spoken of the dry frock that Gwen declared had just been plunged into
+water.
+
+"Yes, it is strange, but I've known other women who were nearly as
+blind to their children's faults," her friend replied.
+
+"The child is really pretty, but so bold, and pert that although she
+arrived less than a week ago, there is not a guest at this hotel who
+does not feel relieved when she leaves the piazza. Only think," the
+lady continued, "she was out here this morning, sitting in that big
+chair that old Mr. Pendleton likes to have. He's ill, and Gwen knew
+that he came out expecting to sit in it, but she looked up at him, and
+did not stir. 'Gwen, dear,' Mrs. Harcourt said; 'I think Mr. Pendleton
+would like that chair.' 'Well, I like it, and I'm going to keep it,'
+Gwen said, swinging her legs, and settling back in the chair. 'You
+really musn't mind her,' Mrs. Harcourt said.
+
+"'I don't intend to,' he said, and Mrs. Harcourt looked as if she
+wondered what he meant."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+WHO WAS IT
+
+
+Captain Seaford sitting in the sun, and mending nets, was aware that
+something was causing great, and unusual excitement in his house.
+
+He sat just outside the door, but the sound of hurried footsteps, of
+eager conversation, of furniture being moved about, betokened
+something disturbing in the atmosphere.
+
+"Comp'ny coming, or some kind o' storm brewing!" he muttered with a
+knowing wink, although no one was near to see the comical grimace.
+
+Mrs. Seaford, usually calm and cheerful, now appeared in the doorway,
+a frown puckering her forehead, and a troubled look in her eyes.
+
+"I've been over to the village," she said, "and while I've been gone,
+someone has been through the house, opened every drawer, pulled out
+the contents and strewn them on the floor, and made a general mess
+that I've worked an hour to clear up. Have you noticed anyone around
+the place?"
+
+"Haven't seen a soul," declared the Captain, "and I've been busy right
+here since before you went out.
+
+"Seems to me I did hear someone moving about at one time, but I'm not
+even sure of that."
+
+"Well, whoever it was managed to move about enough to make work for me
+to clear up," Mrs. Seaford said.
+
+"There's only one door to this house so how could anyone get out
+without passing me? You must surely be mistaken."
+
+"The person, whoever it was, didn't care to pass you coming in, or
+going out of the house, so climbed through the window. On his way out,
+he knocked some plants from the window-sill. Nothing has been stolen,
+so I can't see the object in ransacking the house."
+
+"'Taint poss'ble you're nervous, and imagine someone's been in, is
+it?" he asked, anxiously scanning her face.
+
+"Imagine?" Mrs. Seaford said. "Well, come in, and see what you think.
+I've cleared the worst of it, but here's enough left to convince you."
+
+He dropped the net on the sand, and went in. One look was enough.
+
+"What in the world----!" he said, and no more, but his face spoke
+volumes.
+
+It remained a mystery. Who would care to disturb the contents of the
+odd dwelling of the Seafords? Not a thief, surely, for it was well
+known that while the genial Captain had, at one time, been well to do,
+he had, for the past few years, had a struggle for existence. The old
+ship's hulk, inverted, and furnished for a home, held but one
+treasure, love, and that, priceless as it was, could not be stolen.
+
+Who was the intruder? How had he come, and how had he vanished?
+
+Dwellers at Cliffmore talked of it, at their homes, at church, and on
+the beach, but no one could give the slightest clue that might help in
+detecting the intruder.
+
+Excitement usually lasted regarding one matter until another subject
+was suggested, when the villagers would turn with fresh interest to
+the latest bit of news.
+
+Generally, it was a happening of small importance, that gained its
+prominence from having been frequently described, but one morning
+something occurred that shook the little fishing village, as Captain
+Seaford said, "from stem to stern."
+
+When Mrs. Wilton, the housekeeper at Captain Atherton's Summer home,
+"The Cliffs," arose early one morning, she noticed that the Captain
+had forgotten the French window that opened on the porch. It evidently
+had been open on the evening before, and, by an oversight, had
+remained open all night. At a glance she saw that someone had been
+through the lower part of the house.
+
+Drawers were wide open, their contents strewn upon the floor.
+
+Flowers had been taken from the large jars that held them, and left
+with their wet foliage and stems lying upon the polished table.
+
+Delicate pieces of china had been lifted from the lower shelves of the
+china closet, and placed upon the table, the window seats, and even
+the piano boasted two dainty cups that the visitor, whoever it might
+be, had placed upon the keyboard.
+
+"Nothing is stolen," the housekeeper said, in reporting the mischief
+to Captain Atherton, "and all the queer doin's are on the first floor.
+Do you see that it looks as if the same person that went all over
+Captain Seaford's house, has been roving through this one? Nothing was
+stolen there, but everything had been handled and pulled around."
+
+"I'll go out into the garden and think it over," he replied.
+
+He left the house, but as he reached the lower step that led from the
+piazza he saw that the bold intruder, not satisfied with the mischief
+perpetrated in the house, had tried his hand at the garden. Beautiful
+plants had been lifted from their pots and thrown onto the walk, the
+hose lay beside them, running a stream, the fountain had been set
+running, and an old broom, used by the gardener, to sweep the walks,
+lay in the lower basin of the fountain.
+
+The housekeeper followed him out onto the piazza.
+
+"If you please, sir, I'd like just to say that I locked every door and
+window, except the one that opens onto this piazza, from the library.
+I went upstairs, knowing that you were still reading, and thinking
+you'd like that window open 'til you went to your room for the night,
+when you'd be sure to shut and lock it."
+
+John Atherton nodded, and walked along the path. He knew that the
+housekeeper was anxious to shift all responsibility from her broad
+shoulders onto his.
+
+"I guess I left that French window open, so that fault is mine, but
+who would be interested to rove through a home, pulling things to
+pieces, and making disorder, solely for the fun of doing it? Whoever
+it is, does not care to rob. It's a puzzle that must be looked into."
+
+The children were greatly excited, and inclined to look upon Polly and
+Rose with envy.
+
+It was interesting to listen while older people talked and argued as
+to how it happened, and what sort of person played the pranks. Before
+the Summer guests had half finished discussing the happening at
+Captain Atherton's house, they were again startled.
+
+It was early one morning, a half hour before breakfast would be
+served, when a big, florid woman came down the stairway to the lower
+hall, declaring that someone had been in her room, doing a deal of
+mischief.
+
+"Every article in my bureau drawer has been pulled out and thrown upon
+the floor, gowns have been removed from my closet, and are piled up on
+chairs in a heap, and my hats have been taken from their boxes and
+packed up on my bureau. Something must be done about it!" she declared
+in anger, and really one could not blame her.
+
+The proprietor appeared, and promised all sorts of things to pacify
+the woman and there the matter appeared to end, for search as they
+would, no trace of the culprit could be found. The other guests felt
+uneasy.
+
+"Who could possibly guess whose room will be ransacked next?" said one
+lady, to another who sat beside her at breakfast, to which the other
+replied:
+
+"A few more happenings of this kind, and I'll pack my trunks, and
+leave for a place where I can, at least, expect law and order."
+
+The guests of the hotel found it an interesting theme for
+conversation, and talked of it morning, noon and night, until old Mr.
+Pendleton, the invalid, became so tired of hearing about it that his
+patience at last gave way.
+
+"What a fuss! What a nuisance of a fuss! I declare. Women are upset if
+their finery is tossed around a bit. Nothing was stolen, so why
+complain? Why get excited?"
+
+No one replied to his outburst. It was well known that to reply to Mr.
+Pendleton was apt to provoke a torrent of abuse, so he was allowed to
+sit in his big chair in the corner of the piazza, looking with sharp,
+black, bead-like eyes from one woman to the other, silently amused,
+because he believed that they dared not answer.
+
+He was a tough, wiry old man, not really ill, but believing himself to
+be an invalid, and enjoying the belief. Some one had heard a physician
+say that an event, or happening of any sort that would startle him
+into quick action would teach him that the health that he believed
+lost, was still in his possession.
+
+One morning the queerest thing happened, and as it was just after
+breakfast, all the guests of the hotel were present to share the great
+excitement.
+
+While the guests were at breakfast, the maids had put their rooms in
+order, and as it bid fair to be a hot day, nearly everyone decided to
+spend the morning on the broad piazza.
+
+Mr. Pendleton, as usual, sat in his favorite corner. He was talking
+with another man about some distant city that each had often visited.
+Evidently there was something about which they could not agree, for
+their voices rose in angry dispute.
+
+"I'm right in my opinion!" shouted Mr. Pendleton, in his thin, shrill
+voice.
+
+"And, sir, let me tell you that _I_ am right!" boomed the fat man in a
+growling bass.
+
+"I'll get my map and prove what I say!" cried Mr. Pendleton, springing
+from his chair, and starting toward the hall.
+
+The big man's laugh made him increase his speed. The other guests were
+amused, but they were not prepared for the next thing that happened.
+
+Old Mr. Pendleton came tearing down the stairs, at the risk of
+breaking his neck, his cheeks flushed, and his small, black eyes
+blazing.
+
+"It's an outrage! It's disgusting! It's not to be endured!" he
+shouted. "My room has been entered, and my belongings tossed about! My
+pajamas are spread out on the floor as if someone meant to take a
+pattern of them! My watch is soaking in the wash bowl, and my brush
+and comb are each in a slipper. My topcoat is out of the window and
+sprawling in the sun on the roof of this piazza, and every neck-tie I
+own is hanging from the chandelier! I won't stand it!"
+
+He paused for breath, and the woman whom he had vexed a few days
+before, was so unwise as to speak:
+
+"It might be well for you to realize just now that women are not the
+only ones who are upset when their finery is tossed about. As nothing
+was stolen, why complain? Why get excited?"
+
+"Madam! You haven't the least idea of tact," he cried. "If you had
+you'd----" but before he could complete his speech, the proprietor
+arrived, and a much harder task he had to appease the wrath of Mr.
+Pendleton, than that of the fat woman whose room had been entered a
+few days before.
+
+The mystery might never have been solved but for something that
+occurred on the following morning.
+
+A room on the second floor had windows looking out upon the sea. The
+door stood open, and a maid passing along the hall, paused to look in.
+Guests were not in the habit of leaving their room doors wide open.
+What she saw made her tip-toe softly away to a screen in the hall.
+
+From her position she could watch the inmate of the room.
+
+That room had been hired by the fat man with the big voice who often
+talked, and oftener disputed with Mr. Pendleton.
+
+It was easy to touch a button on the wall close beside her, and the
+bell-boy responded in a few seconds. The maid held up her finger, at
+the same time pointing toward the open door, and whispering:
+
+"Sh--! Go quick and get Mr. Buffington. Tell him somebody is in his
+room. Don't make a sound here. I'll watch while you're gone. Rush
+now!"
+
+Mr. Buffington, big and ponderous, soon appeared, puffing like an
+engine. The maid saw him as he appeared above the stairs, and quickly
+held up her finger, as a signal to him to make no noise.
+
+Puzzled, yet impressed, the big man tip-toed along until he stood in
+the doorway.
+
+The intruder stood, back toward the door, and for the moment, was so
+occupied with pulling over the contents of a large trunk that
+footsteps outside the door were unnoticed.
+
+"You little rascal!"
+
+These words shouted made the intruder actually jump.
+
+"Ah, now, Miss Gwen, how happened ye in there?" said the maid.
+
+Gwen, thoroughly frightened, tried to rush from the room, but it was
+useless. The big man filled the doorway. He did not intend to hurt
+her, when he firmly grasped her arm, but he did intend to give her a
+lesson, and he proceeded to do it, walking her along the hall on the
+way to the stairway.
+
+Usually, Gwen's boldness was equal to any emergency, but this time she
+was too frightened to object, to wriggle in the firm grasp, or indeed,
+to do anything other than allow him to take her wherever he chose, and
+he chose----the piazza filled with guests.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt, at the farthest end of the piazza, busy with her
+embroidery, did not look up when the two appeared.
+
+"I found _this_ in my room!" said the angry man. "Anyone who owns it
+may claim it. _This_ is what has been entering rooms, and handling
+other people's property."
+
+"Oh, mamma! Why don't you come and tell them I don't do such things!"
+
+Of course Mrs. Harcourt dropped her embroidering frame, and rushed
+forward, snatching Gwen from the big man's grasp.
+
+"'Twould be useless, because I caught her just as she had opened my
+trunk, and was examining all my belongings. The best thing to do with
+your smart girl, is to keep her away from hotels, unless you can keep
+a chain on her to keep her from prowling," growled Mr. Buffington.
+
+"You don't understand children!" declared Mrs. Harcourt, as with Gwen,
+she went up the stairway to her room, to which the big man responded:
+"I shouldn't want to if they're all like that!"
+
+Of course the piazza was alive with buzzing voices.
+
+"What a perfectly horrid child!"
+
+"I'd be ashamed of her if she were mine, the little imp!"
+
+These and similar remarks were to be heard on all sides.
+
+Gwen had been pert and saucy, bold, and annoying in many ways, but
+that a little girl could be the person who had boldly entered any
+house, or any room at the hotel, poking her impudent little nose into
+any house or room that remained unlocked, was really a surprise.
+
+They had all believed it to be the work of a man, but no one could
+understand what prompted him to handle every article in the place that
+he entered, yet never steal a thing. Now it was easier to understand.
+Gwen had everything that love could think of, or that wealth could
+provide, but her curiosity was great, and she could not keep her
+mischievous hands off from things belonging to others.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt, angry over what she thought was "outrageous rudeness,"
+packed her trunks, and in an hour's time, left the hotel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+LITTLE SEA NYMPHS
+
+
+Polly and Rose were walking along the beach on the way to call for
+Sprite. They had not decided how to spend the morning, but whatever
+they chose to do, they surely would enjoy themselves, for never were
+three playmates happier in each other's company.
+
+"A long time ago when you first came to Avondale to live at Sherwood
+Hall, we named you Princess Polly. We never seemed to think of you as
+Polly Sherwood, your truly name," Rose said.
+
+"And I liked you the first day I met you by the brook," Polly said,
+"and I thought Rose Atherton was such a pretty name."
+
+"Sprite's name just fits her," said Rose, a moment later, "for she
+looks like a sprite, or a sea nymph, and so Sprite Seaford seems just
+the name for her.
+
+"There she is now, coming toward us. Let's run to meet her."
+
+"I took the telescope, and looked up the beach," Sprite said, when
+they met, "and kept looking until I saw you. Then I put it back on the
+mantel, and ran to meet you. Now come over to the place I call the
+bay."
+
+She led the way, and they followed. The bay, as Sprite called it was a
+place where a ledge projected into the water in such a way that the
+incoming waves rushed past it, sweeping up onto the sand in a curving
+line.
+
+It was not much of a bay, but it served as a name, and they always
+knew what she meant when she spoke of it.
+
+Its shallow water was fine to play in, and when the tide went out,
+there always remained a little pool that reflected floating clouds.
+
+On its clear surface they skipped flat stones, and they marvelled to
+see how skillful was little Sprite.
+
+"Nine skips, and then a hop! That makes ten," said Polly, "and I can
+only make mine skip seven times."
+
+"Oh, but you can do as well as I if you practice enough. I've always
+lived here at the shore," Sprite said, "and the flat stones have been
+my toys."
+
+It was fine to compete with her, and Rose and Polly worked very hard
+in their effort to make a better fling.
+
+"Eight!" declared Polly, and for a number of times, she sent the
+stones skipping eight times across the glassy little pool.
+
+"Seven!" cried Rose, "and it almost went eight, and then didn't.
+Wasn't that provoking?"
+
+"Eight!" she shouted a moment later.
+
+"Nine!" squealed Polly. "Nine! Who'd have believed I could?"
+
+"I would," replied Sprite, "because you're trying so hard, and because
+you can do anything."
+
+"Oh, I can't!" Polly said.
+
+"Well, you sing, and play, and you dance beautifully; after all that,
+just skipping stones doesn't seem so very much," Sprite answered
+quickly.
+
+"It does to me because I've never done it before. It's great fun."
+
+The sun was higher, and warm from exercise, they sat down in the
+shadow of the cliff to rest, and cool off.
+
+They talked of the ships that appeared on the horizon, wondering what
+their cargoes might be. They talked of all sorts of things, but it was
+Sprite who gave a surprise.
+
+"Guess who has gone way, way over in that big yellow house on the
+cliff to live. Guess!" she said, and her eyes were twinkling.
+
+"Oh, tell us," said Polly.
+
+"Yes, you'd better tell us," said Rose. "We couldn't ever guess."
+
+"Won't you guess?" Sprite asked.
+
+"What's the use," said Polly. "We couldn't guess who it is in a
+month!"
+
+"Well, it's Gwen Harcourt," Sprite said.
+
+"Gwen Harcourt!" cried Polly and Rose in the same breath. "Why, how
+funny. Her mamma said she was tired of Cliffmore."
+
+"Yes, and she said she didn't like any of the people that were here
+for the Summer," said Rose.
+
+"Gwen said her mamma said that, but she said the reason was because
+she was provoked, and Gwen said she teased and teased her to stay, so
+she did, and they truly are in that big yellow house on the cliff.
+There's only about a dozen people boarding there, and Gwen said it
+seemed more select than the place where she'd been staying."
+
+"I said: 'You like Polly Sherwood and Rose Atherton,' and she said,
+'Yes, I like them, but it's the grown people that we don't care for,'"
+concluded Sprite.
+
+"It was the grown people that didn't like Gwen, and no wonder," said
+Rose. "Who would like to have her trunks and boxes emptied on the
+floor, and all the hats and dresses pulled over? I don't believe
+anyone in that yellow house, or any other house will like to have her
+do that."
+
+A cool breeze blew in from the ocean, and the three sprang to their
+feet.
+
+"Let's pull off our shoes and stockings and dance on the thin edge of
+the water," cried Sprite.
+
+"I'll sing a song mamma taught me."
+
+They clasped hands, and gracefully they skipped in time with the
+pretty song.
+
+    "We are water nymphs so free,
+    We are merry sisters three.
+    When the sunbeams kiss the foam
+    From our coral cave we roam,
+    And we float up to the strand
+    Where we dance upon the sand.
+
+    "When the moon with silvery ray
+    Glistens on the tossing spray,
+    Then upon the beach we dance,
+    Fleet of foot we whirl and prance.
+    Whirling, swaying, gay and free,
+    Merry water nymphs are we."
+
+    [Illustration: "Their graceful forms swaying."]
+
+It was a pretty sight.
+
+The three lovely faces, bright eyed, and rose tinted cheeks, their
+graceful forms swaying, swinging, whirling, their white feet nimbly
+keeping time to the song that Sprite sang.
+
+The guests at the big yellow house on the ledge had already found that
+Mrs. Harcourt was a pleasant woman to talk with, but they also had
+learned that she permitted her small daughter to be as rude and
+unpleasant as she chose. It never required a great length of time for
+anyone to learn that.
+
+At the breakfast table, the first morning after they had left the
+hotel and had engaged rooms at the big house on the ledge, Gwen showed
+her rudeness by declaring that she could not eat any of the food that
+was served.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt looked around at the other guests, remarking:
+
+"Gwen has such refined taste that quite often really good food fails
+to tempt her."
+
+Thus encouraged, Gwen spoke for herself:
+
+"But there's nothing on this table that is good. I wonder any of you
+can eat it."
+
+The guests were disgusted with the silly child, and sillier mother.
+She had acted in about the same manner at every meal.
+
+It happened that she had been up in her room over the piazza on the
+morning that her three little friends were dancing upon the beach.
+
+They were too far distant for her to guess who they might be.
+
+The field glasses lay on the dresser, and Gwen snatched them, ran to
+the window, and peeped at the dancing figures.
+
+"Oo--oo! It's Princess Polly, and Rose and Sprite. I'm going right
+over to see them, and dance with them, too!"
+
+She flung the glasses down into the nearest chair, and ran down the
+stairs, across the lawn, and then commenced to make her way carefully
+down the rough steps that had been cut in the ledge.
+
+Even Gwen could not descend those steps at high speed.
+
+Once on the sand she believed she could hasten, but the tide never
+reached the ledge upon which the house stood, so the sand at its base
+was dry, and anything but easy to hurry over.
+
+At last she reached the damp part, and then how her feet flew over the
+firm, level surface.
+
+She seemed tireless as she sped along, and she ran without stopping
+until she stood before them. They had not seen her approaching,
+because a high cliff had hidden her until she sprang out from behind
+it.
+
+"Hello!" she cried.
+
+"Hello!" they replied. "Going to dance with us?"
+
+"Of course," Gwen said shortly. "That's why I came here."
+
+She was a fine little dancer, and soon the four were tripping lightly
+over the sand, the three bare footed, but Gwen with shoes and
+stockings on, splashing as gaily through the shallow water as if she
+did not know that she was ruining a fine pair of new shoes.
+
+Her pale blue stockings would hardly be improved by a drenching in
+salt-water.
+
+The others had urged her to take them off, but for that very reason,
+she stubbornly refused, and laughed as the water rushed about her
+ankles at the first step.
+
+She knew that no reproof awaited her. Mrs. Harcourt hailed each new
+prank as a sure sign of her small daughter's originality.
+
+Tormenting the pets that other guests had brought to the shore, hiding
+the embroidery frames that any lady might chance to leave lying on a
+chair, throwing hats or wraps over the piazza railing to drop at the
+foot of the cliff, all these things Mrs. Harcourt thought extremely
+amusing.
+
+A pair of wet shoes would, of course, be very funny. Gwen was sure of
+that.
+
+"Where's that new girl?" she asked when they paused to rest.
+
+"She's gone out fishing with her brother," Rose replied, "and they
+intend to be out all day."
+
+"Oh, well, I only asked for fun," Gwen said quickly. "She's pleasant,
+and I like her, but she can't keep still a minute, and that makes me
+tired."
+
+"Why, Gwen Harcourt, neither do you," said Rose, laughing.
+
+"Me?" said Gwen. "Well, who wants to keep still? I didn't say I wanted
+to. I said it made me tired to watch her, because she,--because _she_
+doesn't keep still. That's different!"
+
+A shout made them turn to look down the beach.
+
+A boy, using his hands as a speaking tube, stood looking toward them,
+and calling loudly, "Gwen! Gwen!"
+
+"Oh, that's Max Deland," said Gwen. "I'll go and see why he's calling
+me."
+
+Without saying "Good-bye," she turned, and raced down the beach, and
+Polly and Rose and Sprite stood watching her flying figure.
+
+On, on she ran until at last, they saw that she had reached the boy
+who had shouted to her.
+
+Then Princess Polly spoke:
+
+"I wonder why he didn't run to meet her," she said, "instead of
+standing stock still and waiting 'till she'd run every step of the
+way?"
+
+"I don't wonder," Sprite said, "because I've seen him do that so many
+times, and he tells her to 'do this,' and 'do that,' and 'come here,'
+and 'go there,' and she does just as he says every time."
+
+"That's queer," Rose said, "because she never lets us tell her even
+how to play a new game. The minute we start to tell her how it is
+played, she says: 'Oh, I know all about it,' so of course we stop, and
+it is Gwen who is always saying, 'Come and do this,' and 'You must do
+it,' till we get tired of being 'bossed,' and never doing as we wish.
+She didn't do that way to-day. She danced with us, and never once told
+us how to do it."
+
+"Why, Polly!" cried Sprite, "she has always known that you were
+trained for dancing, and that you know the prettiest dances."
+
+The three little friends still stood watching Gwen and Max.
+
+They seemed to be discussing something upon which they could not
+agree, for as they watched, Max violently pointed toward some distant
+point on the shore, and stamped his foot, and each time Gwen would
+shake her curly head.
+
+The boy seemed determined, and the girl obstinate.
+
+"I wonder what he is telling her to do?" said Sprite, to which Polly
+replied:
+
+"I don't. I wonder why she doesn't do it?"
+
+"Yesterday he dared her to go out on an old plank, and she did it and
+got a ducking," said Sprite. "P'r'aps it's something like that."
+
+The two figures still stood out clearly, the boy evidently insisting,
+and the girl still shaking her head as if unwilling to do as he
+wished.
+
+Some bathers came running down to the water, their gay colored caps
+covering their hair, their sandals tied with ribbons.
+
+Polly, Rose, and Sprite turned to see them take the first dip, and for
+a few moments watched them romping in the surf.
+
+When they turned Max and Gwen had disappeared.
+
+"I do wonder what they were planning to do?" said Polly, "and why Gwen
+seemed unwilling to do it, whatever it was."
+
+"So do I," said Rose, "because Max always wants to do the wildest
+things," to which Sprite added; "And you can't often find anything
+wilder than Gwen would enjoy."
+
+It happened that Max and Gwen had disappeared behind a rough shanty
+that laborers were using for a toolhouse.
+
+"Now don't be a fraidie-cat!" Max was saying. "What makes you act so?
+I called you a 'brick' the other day because I said you dared to do
+things that any girl but you wouldn't dare to do. Now here you are,
+acting just the way other girls act. 'Fore I'd be 'fraid to sail in a
+tub!" He hoped to make her do it.
+
+"Well, if you're not afraid to, why don't you do it, instead of asking
+me to do it?" snapped Gwen.
+
+"Oh, so I can tell the other boys how brave you are," replied Max.
+
+"They wouldn't think anything of me a doing it," he continued, quite
+regardless of his grammar, "because I'm a boy, and I'm s'posed to be
+brave, anyway, but you're a girl, and that's different.
+
+"Come! Get in! I'll shove it!"
+
+Gwen paused for a moment, then:
+
+"Give me your hand!" she said.
+
+She was afraid, but her silly vanity prompted her to do it. She knew
+that neither of her playmates would dare, and Max had promised to tell
+the other boys of the brave feat.
+
+Max took her hand, and she sprang into the tub, crouching on the
+bottom, as he shoved it off into water a bit deeper than that in
+which they had been standing.
+
+The tub was roughly made and anything but clean. The workmen had used
+it for holding cement, but had emptied it, and left it on the beach
+where Max had found it.
+
+He was very fond of coaxing others to do things that he himself would
+never have done. Now, safe on dry land, he stood cheering Gwen for her
+bravery.
+
+"Well, come and wade out here and get me back," she cried. "I've
+proved that I dared to do it, and that's enough!"
+
+"Wait till I get the fellows to come and see you out there in the tub.
+They might not believe me if I just told them!" shouted Max, and he
+raced off at top speed, paying no heed to Gwen's shrieks. No one could
+have guessed if Max heard her and yet kept on running, or whether the
+sound of his own footfalls drowned her cries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WHAT MAX DID
+
+
+Max ran up the beach at top speed, intent upon finding his "chum," and
+telling him that Gwen was actually in the tub, and then, daring him to
+race back and see her floating about in the shallow water.
+
+Max and Jack had wagered a quantity of marbles that no girl, not even
+Gwen Harcourt, would dare to float in the rough old tub.
+
+When Max reached the place where Jack had promised to wait for him,
+Jack was no where to be seen.
+
+"Scamp!" cried Max. "He's gone off so as not to pay over those marbles
+I won. Well, he'll not get off so easy, for I'll find him, and _make_
+him pay!"
+
+With never a thought of Gwen, he started along the beach to search for
+Jack.
+
+"Well, I'd not be mean enough to skin out like that," he cried as he
+hurried over the hard, damp sands. He thought it very mean to elude
+paying the little bet, and as he ran, he told himself that he would
+have promptly paid the marbles if he had owed them to Jack, which was
+true.
+
+Jack was mischievous, but he would never have left a little girl in
+the plight in which Max, with all his boasting, had left Gwen.
+
+And although Max Deland searched in every place where Jack was likely
+to be, he did not find him.
+
+"I'll not hunt for him!" he cried at last, "but I'll make him pay when
+I catch him!"
+
+"Max! Max Deland!"
+
+The voice was shrill and piping.
+
+"Hello! Where are you?" Max shouted in reply, and the trim waitress
+from her position on the ledge, cried back;
+
+"It's not where I am, but where you are that's worrying your mother.
+You're the first boy I ever saw that had to be called to dinner. Come
+in!"
+
+She turned and ran into the house, while Max rushed toward the big
+dining-room.
+
+He thought of Gwen during dinner, but he felt no fear for her safety.
+He believed that she had soon become tired of floating in the shallow
+water, had sprung from the leaky tub, and for hours had been playing
+with her friends.
+
+That was not the case, however. Gwen, crouching in the tub, had waited
+quite patiently, watching for Max who was to return with Jack, while
+the tub bobbed and danced on the shallow water, and for a time she had
+found it rather amusing.
+
+The clumsy craft had floated lightly, now toward the beach, now away,
+and she felt no fear because as often as a receding wave took her a
+few feet from the beach, an incoming wave brought her back.
+
+Then the unexpected happened.
+
+The tide had been turning, and a big wave snatched at the tub, bearing
+it farther out than it had yet been, while the next inrolling wave
+went up onto the beach without so much as touching it.
+
+Gwen screamed with fright, when she saw that now the tub was steadily
+going away from the shore.
+
+There was no one in sight, and she sank in a little heap on the bottom
+of the tub, too tired to continue shouting, and frightened at the
+thought of drifting out to sea.
+
+The gulls flew down and looked at her as if wondering what she might
+be, and Gwen cowered, afraid of their great, flapping wings.
+
+No one could say what might have happened, but just at the moment when
+her last bit of courage had fled, a fortunate thing occurred.
+
+A tiny fishing craft was coming in, and as it neared the shore, one of
+the crew spied the floating tub, then a few moments later the man
+exclaimed:
+
+"Why, there's a child in that leaky old tub, as true as I live!"
+
+"Hi, there!" he shouted, and Gwen looked up, and wildly waved her
+hands.
+
+"Sit still!" he commanded, "or something'll happen. Keep still, an'
+we'll pull ye in when ye come 'long side."
+
+Very thankful was Gwen when later, she found herself safe on the deck,
+the rough tub bobbing away across the waves, while the fishermen
+listened to her story of the trick that Max had played.
+
+"If that boy was mine I know what he'd get, for doing a mean trick
+like that!" said one man, to which another responded:
+
+"And I'd be glad ter help ye give it ter him."
+
+One would have thought that Mrs. Harcourt might have been anxious
+because of Gwen's long absence, and her non-appearance at the noon
+meal, but such was not the case.
+
+Some one at the table spoke of Gwen, asking if she were ill.
+
+"Oh, dear no!" Mrs. Harcourt said, with a light laugh; "Gwen is never
+ill, but she is so very popular that when she does not appear at meal
+time, I know that someone has urged her to lunch at her home. Gwen is
+dearly loved, and so is constantly being coaxed to remain at this
+house or that."
+
+The other guests could not be blamed if they wondered who it might be
+who continually longed to have Gwen as a guest.
+
+When the noon meal was over, the guests made their way out onto the
+piazza, seating themselves in little groups for an afternoon of chat
+and gossip.
+
+Some of the ladies were doing fancy work with gay colored silks. Mrs.
+Harcourt always brought her embroidery frame to the piazza. Not that
+she did much needlework, but she thought it looked well to have it
+with her, even if she talked for hours, while the frame lay idle in
+her lap.
+
+Someone said that the same piece of work was in the frame that was in
+it on the day of her arrival weeks before.
+
+She had taken a seat at the far end of the piazza, and she now looked
+about her to see who might be near her.
+
+A tall matron, standing at a short distance, turned, and seeing a
+large rocker behind Mrs. Harcourt, walked slowly over, and seated
+herself in it. She had just arrived, and so had not yet seen Gwen.
+
+Here was a chance to talk to a listener who did not know her little
+daughter, and Mrs. Harcourt grasped it.
+
+"You doubtless heard me telling the others how everyone loves my small
+girl," she said.
+
+"Yes, I heard what you said," the woman replied, in a manner that
+implied her lack of interest, but Mrs. Harcourt did not notice that.
+
+"Well, really, when you see Gwen, you will not wonder, for you, like
+everyone else, will enjoy her. She's _so_ original."
+
+Just at this point those who sat near the railing noticed two odd
+looking figures toiling up the rough-hewn stairway on the cliff.
+
+Those who watched them turned to exchange amused glances, and then
+look toward Mrs. Harcourt.
+
+Quite unaware of what was going on, Mrs. Harcourt continued:
+
+"As I was saying, Gwen is really very unusual, and original, and at
+the same time, she is so very sweet tempered, that----," but the
+sentence was interrupted by the appearance upon the piazza of a rough
+looking fisherman, and a drenched, and very dirty small girl, whose
+sailor frock was wet with sea water, and be-daubed with cement. Her
+eyes were red and swollen with crying, her hair had lost its ribbon,
+and hung about her face. Truly she did not look attractive.
+
+"Could any of you fine ladies put down your needles long 'nough ter
+hear where I found this little lass?" said the man, "fer she looks
+like she needed 'tendin' to."
+
+Gwen could at once have run to her mother, but she chose to cling to
+the fisherman's rough hand, and be gazed upon as an abused child. Mrs.
+Harcourt, trying to decide which shade of silk to use, did not even
+look up. She did not dream that Gwen had returned.
+
+So surprised were the guests that, for the moment, no one spoke, and
+the man continued:
+
+"Me'n' my mates found her floating out ter sea in a ol' tub what the
+carpenters had been usin' fer cement, an' we pulled her in. As the
+tub was a leakin', I guess 'twas 'bout time 'less ye wanted her ter be
+drownded."
+
+A shrill cry from Mrs. Harcourt followed by the sound of hurrying
+feet, and then:
+
+"Oh, Gwen, my dear! Come away from that rough man!" she cried, and the
+instant silence showed the disgust that her words had provoked.
+
+"Wal, I s'pose that's the kind of thanks that a poor feller can expect
+from a lady 'ristocrat!" said the fisherman as he turned to go, "but
+I'll say one thing more, an' that is that the young lad named Max is
+'sponsible for the mischief. It was him what coaxed the little lass
+inter that ol' tub, an' then run off ter play."
+
+"Three cheers for this man!" cried a young fellow who had listened
+intently, and the guests responded with a will, and Mrs. Harcourt from
+the hall whence she had vanished with Gwen, wondered what it was all
+about.
+
+She considered herself a cultured woman, yet she had not spoken one
+grateful word to the man who had rescued Gwen from her perilous
+position!
+
+Of course Max denied that he had intended to play a trick on Gwen. He
+was a coward, and a coward rarely cares to "own up" when guilty.
+
+Instead, he insisted that he only "dared" her to get into the tub, but
+that he never thought she would stay in it a moment after he was out
+of sight.
+
+His mother believed him; the guests did not, but little cared Max. So
+long as she thought him perfect, he was quite happy, because he could
+do, at all times, exactly as he chose. That he usually chose to be
+very disagreeable was not to be wondered at.
+
+His mother thought his pranks most amusing, and his saucy speeches,
+smart, so he was quite content.
+
+The oddest part of all was that Gwen really liked Max Deland. He was
+always getting her into scrapes, and as soon as she had escaped from
+one, she was ready for another.
+
+Max never helped her. Instead, he left her to help herself. Gwen was
+wilful with all of her girl playmates, but she would agree to anything
+that Max proposed, so when, in the afternoon of the following day, he
+told her that he was going to take a long tramp, Gwen was wild to know
+just where he was going, and coaxed to go too.
+
+"_Where_ are you going?" she asked for the third time.
+
+"Oh, somewhere great!" Max said with a provoking chuckle.
+
+"It would serve you just right if I said I didn't care where you went,
+but I do care, because I want to go too," Gwen said.
+
+"I only wanted to tease you," Max replied, "and I'll let you go with
+me, Gwen. Turn 'round and look at that high hill over back of the
+house where we're staying. I'm going to climb to the top of that hill,
+and go down on the other side, just to see what there is 'round behind
+that hill."
+
+"Then why don't you walk around it, instead of climbing?" questioned
+Gwen.
+
+"Smarty!" Max said, at he same time looking very unpleasant.
+
+"Oh, I don't care," Gwen hastened to say. "I like to climb. Come on!"
+
+It did not look like much of a hill, but it proved to be hard to
+climb, for its sides were steep, and covered with wiry grass.
+
+The sun was hot, and long before reaching the top, Gwen wished that
+she had not started at all.
+
+Twice she stopped to take short pieces of stems or dry twigs from her
+slippers, and often the thorny branches of the low bushes scratched
+her bare arms.
+
+Her sleeves were short, and thus her arms were unprotected. Max's arms
+were covered by his jacket sleeves.
+
+"What a fuss you make over a little scratch!" he said, sharply.
+
+"I'm _not_ fussing over _a_ scratch!" snapped Gwen. "I'm fussing over
+'bout a hundred scratches!"
+
+"Oh,--o--o!" Max drawled, as if he doubted the number.
+
+"Well, look!" cried Gwen, holding her little arms red with scratches.
+
+"Too bad," Max said, and Gwen, surprised, and pleased, followed him,
+as he made his way just ahead of her, holding back the bushes.
+
+"Oh, Max, you're good," she said, and Max blushed at her praise. He
+thought himself exceedingly good, but he was delighted that Gwen
+thought so.
+
+"This hill didn't look so very high, when we stood on the beach and
+looked back at it," said Gwen.
+
+"N-no," admitted Max, "but all the same I'm glad we started early, and
+we'll reach the top 'fore long. Then we'll see what's on the other
+side, and when we climb down, we can just run around on the level
+ground, and tell the folks where we've been, and what a climb we
+had!"
+
+"Oh, yes," agreed Gwen, and once more they pushed forward, and up
+toward the summit, that seemed, no matter how long they climbed, to be
+not the least bit nearer.
+
+For a time they climbed in silence, when, all at once, Gwen tripped
+over a loose root, and promptly sat down.
+
+"I'll have to rest a few minutes," she said.
+
+"I'll sit down because you do," Max said. He would not say that he,
+too, was tired.
+
+He was not contented long to sit resting, and soon the two were once
+more trudging up the steep incline, Max leading the way, and Gwen,
+following close behind him.
+
+"We're 'most to the top," he said, at last, to which Gwen replied:
+
+"I don't believe it! The more we climb, the farther away it seems,
+and I do believe that horrid old hilltop moves away as fast as it sees
+us coming!"
+
+"Now, Gwen, you know better! Just look!" Max said, and Gwen looked.
+
+"Well,--the top isn't any farther off than it was the last time I
+looked up," she said, grudgingly.
+
+She knew that it looked nearer, but she could not bear to say that.
+
+"It's nearer, and you know it!" Max declared, stoutly. "Come on!"
+
+"Wait till I fix my shoe," wailed Gwen.
+
+"I'll bet that's the tenth time you've stopped to pull your shoe off
+since we started to climb this hill," Max cried in disgust.
+
+Gwen was about to say that she should stop again if she wished to, but
+a glance at Max caused her to change her mind. His face was far from
+pleasing, so without a word, she fastened her shoe, and silently the
+two tramped on.
+
+Max was wishing that he had taken the trip alone.
+
+Gwen heartily wished that she had remained on the beach.
+
+She was not only tired, but her feet were sore and blistered.
+
+Max walked ahead, and Gwen found it hard work to keep up.
+
+"Oh, Max!" she cried at last, "Do wait for me!" but Max either did not
+hear, or hearing, refused to wait, and Gwen, unable to take another
+step, sank down on the coarse grass and burst into tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+WHAT MAX FOUND
+
+
+Gwen was very angry. Max had taken her on the long tramp, and now had
+become impatient because she was tired, and had left her to choose
+between immediately following him, or lagging behind.
+
+It was almost twilight, but Gwen was forced to rest for a few moments,
+at least, before taking another step.
+
+"P'r'aps I can run, and catch up with Max, if I sit here and rest a
+while," she said.
+
+Max, careless boy that he was, walked straight ahead, not even turning
+to look back, to learn if Gwen were following.
+
+Gwen watched his sturdy little figure as it stood out against the sky,
+and envied him because he seemed not the least bit weary, while Max,
+sure that she was watching, took extra long steps to show what a
+vigorous fellow he was.
+
+When he had reached the top of the hill, he would have been glad to
+rest, but he wished to prove that he was tireless, so he at once
+commenced to make his way across the level plain upon which he found
+himself, and then to descend the rugged hillside.
+
+Sometimes a twig snapped overhead, and then he would next be surprised
+by stepping upon what proved to be a rolling stone, that would slip
+from under his foot, and go rattling on ahead of him.
+
+The long walk down the far side of the hill was less cheerful than the
+upward climb had been, and while he would not for the world have
+admitted it, he missed Gwen, and her constant chatter.
+
+He was beginning to feel tired, and he would have been glad to sit
+down and rest, but lest Gwen should be on her way to overtake him, and
+laugh at him for resting, he kept on.
+
+Once he looked over his shoulder hoping to see that she was now
+following, but she was not in sight, and again he pushed forward. Not
+a bit cared he if Gwen were afraid.
+
+"If she'd kept up with me, she needn't have been afraid. Nothing would
+scare her if I---- Oh--oo--oo!"
+
+With a frightened yell, he tripped over what appeared to be a long
+bundle, which, however, proved to be the legs of a sleeping tramp.
+
+"Ye little varmint! Walkin' all over a man! I'd serve ye right if I
+tied yer arms an' legs tergether, and pitched yer down inter the
+valley beyant there!" howled the angry man, as he turned over for
+another nap.
+
+Max, believing that the man was chasing him, raced down the steep
+hillside, stumbling over roots, and twigs that lay in his way, sliding
+on rolling stones, and catching at low hanging branches to save
+himself, he at last, from weariness, stumbled, and fell sprawling over
+a stump that the darkness had hidden.
+
+It happened that Gwen, becoming a bit timid because of the shadows of
+twilight, had risen stiffly from her seat on a low rock, and was
+hastening after Max, when she heard the boy's shout, and then the
+angry words of the tramp, and quickly as she had come, she ran back
+to her perch upon the rock.
+
+    [Illustration: "Now, indeed, she was afraid."]
+
+Now, indeed, she was afraid. Alone on a wooded hilltop! Would she have
+to stay there all night? Would some one come for her? How would they
+know where she was?
+
+She tried to think that Max, on reaching the house would tell of her
+plight, and urge someone to come for her, but she knew that Max was a
+coward, and that he never liked to tell anything that might cause
+others to blame him.
+
+Meanwhile the tramp slept soundly. No thought of the frightened boy
+troubled his dreams, and of the little girl who had drawn back into
+the shadow of the trees, he knew nothing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the big yellow house on the Cliff, there was great excitement.
+Mrs. Harcourt was so nearly frantic that the best efforts of her
+friends failed to comfort her.
+
+Earlier in the day she had gaily laughed at Gwen's absence at the noon
+meal, and if she was at all disturbed because of her sailing trip in
+the leaky cement tub, she did not show it.
+
+But that twilight should be hanging over the sea, and night fast
+approaching, and Gwen out of sight for the second time was really
+enough to frighten any woman, even if she were far less nervous than
+Mrs. Harcourt.
+
+A searching party was formed, not one of whom had the slightest idea
+where to look, when, just as the men were about to start out, a small
+boy appeared in the driveway; a boy who seemed to wish to be
+unnoticed.
+
+"Hello! I say, Max! You usually know where the little Harcourt girl
+is. Do you know now?" said a little man on the outside of the group.
+
+"Le'me go!" snarled Max, "I want some supper," and he tried to squirm
+out of the firm grasp of the little man's hand.
+
+"Not till you've answered," said a tall, athletic fellow.
+
+"Come now, little chap, speak up!" Mrs. Deland, faultless dressed now
+appeared.
+
+"Oh, it is really absurd to think my little son has the least idea
+where----"
+
+"It may be, Madam," the young man replied, "but I'll just ask him
+again, and we'll see how he answers. Say, Max! Do you say you don't
+know where she is?"
+
+"I don't know where she is just now," the boy answered sullenly.
+
+"Did you know a little while ago?"
+
+"Oh, dear! Max is so sensitive. This sort of thing will quite upset
+him I'm sure," said Mrs. Deland.
+
+The tall young man made no reply, but to Max he said:
+
+"Tell us where she is, and we'll go and get her, but if you won't tell
+us, we'll take you along to show us the way. Which will you do?"
+
+More tired than he would have cared to admit, Max dared not refuse to
+tell, for he had no desire to repeat the fearfully long walk that he
+had taken.
+
+And when he told how little Gwen had declared herself unable to follow
+him, the disgust of his listeners was complete.
+
+"So as the small girl was tired out with the long trip on which you
+had taken her, you left her to be a little tenant of the lonely wooded
+hilltop for the night!"
+
+"A brave act, truly. Your mother must be proud of such a manly boy!"
+said a stout man who had joined the group.
+
+"I told her to come along, and I guess she could have if she'd wanted
+to," Max said stolidly.
+
+In disgust, and without another word to the boy or his mother, the
+group, with one accord, turned toward the sandy road that led toward
+the narrow path up the steep hillside.
+
+They were sturdy men, well used to long tramps over rugged paths, and
+soon they came upon Gwen, huddled close against a high ledge, in an
+effort to keep warm.
+
+She had been too frightened to cry. She had heard the angry shout of
+the tramp when Max had stumbled over him, and now, although he had not
+uttered a word since, nor had she heard a footstep, she trembled and
+constantly looked about her to learn if he were approaching.
+
+As the searchers made their way toward the crest of the hill, the dry
+twigs that lay upon the ground broke under their feet, and the
+underbrush snapped as they pushed the low branches back. As they
+approached the rock where Gwen was sitting, she heard their voices,
+and believing that instead of one tramp, an entire band of tramps was
+coming toward her, she screamed with fright, and slipping from the
+rock, cowered on the grass, trying to make herself as small as
+possible.
+
+They had heard her outcry, however, and now they called her name.
+
+"Gwen! Little Gwen! Where are you? We've come to find you!"
+
+Crying out to them, she hurried forward, her arms outstretched, as
+she stumbled over the rough, coarse grass, over roots, and dry sticks
+that lay in her path, until, in the effort to run, she pitched and
+would have fallen, had not the big man of the party caught her, and
+swung her to a safe place upon his shoulder.
+
+For once Gwen was truly grateful, and closely she clung about the big
+man's neck, so glad was she, that he and his friends had clambered up
+to her lonely perch on the big rock at the summit of the hill.
+
+Once she whispered in his ear. "There was a big, horrid tramp up on
+that hill. I know, because I heard him shout at Max. I wonder if he
+hurt Max, and I wonder where Max is now. Did some other men go hunting
+for him, just as you hunted for me?"
+
+"No need of hunting for Max," the big man replied, "for he took good
+care of himself, and came sneaking home, safe and sound, while he left
+you, little girl, to look out for yourself as well as you could."
+
+With care they made their way down the rugged hillside, and Gwen was
+so happy that she sang snatches of songs, and someone in the rear
+whistled to keep her company.
+
+Arrived at the house, Gwen had a fine welcome.
+
+She was not generally liked, because of her pert, saucy ways, but the
+fact that she had been lost, and now had returned was surely a reason
+for rejoicing.
+
+"Where's Max?" queried a young man who had been one of the searchers.
+
+"The dear boy was so tired with his tramp that he asked to go at once
+to bed. He was really fatigued, for usually he coaxes to remain up,"
+Mrs. Deland said, "and really," she continued, "the only reason that
+he did not take Gwen along with him was because she said that she
+_must_ rest a while."
+
+"I suppose it was impossible for him to wait with her," said someone
+in the crowd.
+
+"Max is very tender hearted," Mrs. Deland responded, "and he said he
+thought if he waited, she might start before she was sufficiently
+rested."
+
+With much dignity, Mrs. Deland turned from the piazza, and entered the
+house. She knew that Max was at fault, and that everyone in the group
+thought so.
+
+She would not acknowledge that her little son could be in the wrong.
+Max, according to her ideas, should be praised, and approved of at all
+times.
+
+Gwen was the center of interest, and that pleased her greatly. Mrs.
+Harcourt was delighted, fairly beamed upon those who crowded around
+her small daughter, to ask all about her long tramp and how it seemed
+to be alone on the wooded hilltop.
+
+Of course the story lost nothing in the telling.
+
+Gwen made it really thrilling, but after a time, even her mother felt
+that the tale was becoming rather lurid for a strictly truthful
+account, and she dragged Gwen away to the hall, and up the stairway,
+but she made herself absurd.
+
+"Really, Gwen, you should be a bit careful," she said, as gently as if
+afraid of offending her small girl. "If your wonderful imagination
+made you think you saw eyes peering at you from behind those
+tree-trunks, you should remember that common people might not believe
+you. Ordinary people could not understand."
+
+"I don't care if they don't!" Gwen said stoutly. "I shall tell what I
+want to, and they can believe it or not, just as they choose."
+
+"I surely am the mother of a genius," murmured the silly woman.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few days later, great excitement prevailed among the children of the
+Summer colony at Cliffmore, and their elders were sufficiently
+interested to talk of the news on the piazza, the beach, the little
+park, at breakfast, at lunch, and at dinner.
+
+"It is really to be quite an affair," said one lady, to which her
+friend replied:
+
+"I wouldn't miss it for the world, for I heard that no expense had
+been spared, and that the whole thing will be as beautiful as a
+dream."
+
+"Who planned it, or who is managing it?" questioned another, to which
+yet another who now joined the group replied:
+
+"Captain Atherton is 'backing' it, I hear, and so, of course, Rose
+will be the central figure in the pageant."
+
+Yes, that was the cause of the excitement. There was to be a grand
+pageant, and the children would be the principal actors.
+
+"Is Gwen Harcourt to be in the pageant?" someone asked, but before
+anyone could reply Mrs. Harcourt joined them.
+
+"Is my little Gwen to be in it? Why, what a question!" she said. "They
+would hardly have a pageant without her."
+
+"I suppose not," someone said, in a tone of disgust, but Mrs. Harcourt
+did not notice that.
+
+"Well, no," she responded. "I hardly think they could, because beside
+the part that Gwen will actually take, she will be a great help in
+other ways. Her ideas are so original, and she is always so willing to
+tell others how things should be done, that she, really, is a
+wonderful help. The committee arranging the pageant constantly ask her
+advice."
+
+"I wonder if they asked Gwen's permission to have the pageant at all?"
+grumbled a small boy who stood near the ladies who had been talking.
+
+Yes, it was to be a great event at Cliffmore, and everyone was
+interested.
+
+"What are you going to be, and what are you going to wear?" were the
+questions oftenest asked, and groups of merry, laughing children sat
+chatting on the piazzas, or strolling along the beach, talking, always
+talking of the pageant.
+
+It was, indeed, to be a grand and beautiful procession that would make
+its way along the beach.
+
+The children were greatly excited, and each was interested in the
+costumes that her playmates were intending to wear, as well as that in
+which she would herself appear.
+
+There had been an odd happening. Captain Atherton had chosen the list
+of characters to be represented, and Mrs. Sherwood had written a clear
+description of the costumes to be worn.
+
+All were pleased with the parts assigned them, save Gwen Harcourt and
+Max Deland.
+
+"I shall not be one of the mermaids," Gwen had boldly declared. "If I
+can't be the Water Queen, I'll not be a water fairy at all!"
+
+"Very well," Captain Atherton had said quietly, "I will find someone
+to take your place."
+
+Gwen was surprised. She had felt sure that Captain Atherton would beg
+her to remain, and that he would also give to her the part of the
+Water Queen.
+
+Max had had a similar experience. He had expressed his dislike for the
+part given him, and had been told that the parts once given out could
+not be changed.
+
+"Come on, Gwen!" he had said. "We can get up something for ourselves!"
+
+"What _do_ you mean?" she asked.
+
+"Come on over to the big lodge, and I'll tell you. We'll have fun
+enough. You'll see!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SEA KING'S NYMPHS
+
+
+Everyone, everything was ready for the grand carnival and pageant.
+
+The children were more than ready. They were eager.
+
+Their costumes were completed, and they knew exactly how they were
+expected to pose, so that each should do her part to make the
+procession beautiful.
+
+Even the sun seemed intent upon doing his share, and as he rose from
+the water, appeared to be smiling upon sea and land.
+
+At the far end of the beach was a huge canvas tent, and all of the
+"trappings," or "properties" were stored beneath its shelter. From
+this tent the procession would start, and pass along the beach, where
+hundreds of spectators would be watching from the tiers of seats that
+had been erected along the route.
+
+Princess Polly, Rose, and Sprite stood waiting to take their places.
+
+"What do you suppose Gwen and Max meant?" Polly asked.
+
+"When they said they'd get up something of their own?" said Rose.
+
+"Why, yes," Polly said. "Don't you remember how they spoke?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I know," Rose replied, "but Gwen and Max often say they'll
+do things, and then they don't do at all as they say they will. They
+speak like that when they're provoked, and then they forget all about
+it."
+
+"Do you know," Sprite said, "I think this time they'll remember what
+they said, and I'm just wondering what they will do."
+
+A trumpet called the children to order, and soon all was bustle and
+excitement.
+
+Then when all were ready, the long line of lovely children attired in
+rainbow hues, with here and there an adult figure to add dignity to
+the pageant, slowly made its way along the beach, receiving cheers and
+applause from the delighted on-lookers.
+
+First came a group of thirty of the village children, dressed as water
+sprites, and blowing on soft-toned silver horns.
+
+Their tunics were pale rose, and their cheeks were as pink as their
+draperies.
+
+Gilded sandals were on their feet, and they blew their silvery notes
+with a will.
+
+Following the water sprites, came a troop of small boys tripping
+along, and dressed as little mermen, their green scales glittering in
+the warm sunlight, their caps of braided seaweed bordered with tiny
+scallop shells.
+
+They carried triangles, and gaily they marked the time, laughing as
+they tramped along.
+
+There were floats upon which were grouped children and grown-ups in
+tableaux representing historical events.
+
+There was a tall may-pole carried by a man dressed as a jester, and
+boys and girls in early English peasant costumes held the ends of the
+long fluttering ribbons, laughing as the crowd applauded.
+
+Group after group passed along, and one that called forth loud
+cheering was composed of boys and girls dressed as little farmers and
+their chubby wives.
+
+The small boys wore overalls and straw hats, the girls wore pink
+sunbonnets, pink gowns, and blue aprons, but both boys and girls
+carried rakes on their shoulders, and gay companions they seemed to
+be.
+
+The greatest delight, the loudest cheering greeted the great gilded
+chariot, drawn by six white horses hired for the occasion by Captain
+Atherton.
+
+Each steed boasted a white harness, and from the head of each floated
+streamers of green ribbon.
+
+Who would ever have dreamed that the imposing Sea King who stood so
+proudly in his chariot firmly grasping the reins, was none other than
+Captain Seaford, the father of little Sprite.
+
+A white wig and beard had changed him completely, and his costume of
+sea-green draperies was most becoming.
+
+In his left hand he carried a gilded trident.
+
+In the chariot with him as his nymphs were Princess Polly, in pink,
+Rose Atherton in blue, and little Sprite in yellow, three charming
+nymphs, surely.
+
+Brownies, elves, gnomes, a crowd of small boys dressed to represent
+any number of different kinds of fishes were followed by girls among
+whom might be seen Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and a host of other
+fairy tale heroines.
+
+There were little hunters, and fishermen, but all agreed that the Sea
+King with his nymphs, his chariot and his fine horses was best of all.
+
+Polly, Rose, and Sprite were just saying that Gwen and Max had kept
+out of sight in spite of their declaration that they would be in the
+procession, in costumes of their own choosing, when Polly happened to
+turn, and look back.
+
+"Oo--oo--oo! Look!" she cried, and Rose and Sprite, and even the
+stately Sea King turned to learn what had startled her.
+
+Too surprised to speak, they watched a little team with two occupants,
+approaching at headlong speed.
+
+A smart cart drawn by a gray donkey came tearing down the beach. Max
+dressed as a farmer, with blue overalls and straw hat, was making a
+desperate effort to control the donkey, while Gwen in a chintz frock
+and pink sunbonnet sat close beside him, clinging to her seat in
+abject fear.
+
+Evidently they had been late in getting started, and had endeavored to
+gain sufficient speed to "catch up" with the procession.
+
+Max had been vexed that at first the balky little beast could not be
+induced to hasten, and for a long time he continued to walk at a
+fearfully slow pace, paying no heed to shouting, or a taste of the
+whip.
+
+Then, when Max put down the whip, and let the reins lie loosely across
+the little creature's back, Neddy suddenly decided to go, and go he
+did, galloping along at a rate that set the light cart swaying from
+side to side, and threatening, at any moment, to throw Max and Gwen
+out.
+
+"Stop him! Do stop him!" cried Gwen, "He's running away!"
+
+"I _cant_!" screamed Max. "First he wouldn't go, and now he won't
+stop!"
+
+The procession halted, and a big boy sprang forward, endeavoring to
+snatch at the bridle.
+
+The intention was good, but the donkey, maddened that anyone should
+try to stop him, shied, and the boy and girl were hurled out upon the
+sand.
+
+Max turned a complete somersault and came up on his feet, declaring
+himself unhurt, but Gwen took an entirely different view of the
+matter.
+
+She was not hurt, but her temper was decidedly ruffled.
+
+"Well, I declare!" she cried, "I do think everyone is horrid, but I
+think Max is just a _little_ horrider than the rest!"
+
+"Why, Gwen, he did his best to stop, but the donkey just wouldn't,"
+said Sprite.
+
+"Well, I wouldn't have been spilled if I hadn't been riding with Max,
+would I?" cried Gwen. "Something always happens when I go anywhere
+with Max. Funny I don't ever remember it. Just as soon as something's
+happened, away I go somewhere else with him."
+
+Gwen could not imagine why they all laughed.
+
+Meanwhile the donkey having run as far as he cared to, stood far down
+the beach, looking out across the waves, as calmly as if he could
+stand there for hours. Indeed one could hardly think that he was the
+same little beast that, a short time before, had bolted so furiously.
+
+Captain Atherton, who had left the crowd, and quietly followed Neddy,
+now quickly approached him. He made no attempt to escape, but instead,
+allowed himself to be led as gently as if he really preferred to go
+that way.
+
+Very meek he looked, as with the Captain's firm hand on the bridle, he
+approached the crowd that had watched him when he ran wildly along the
+beach.
+
+Max was more than willing to clamber into the cart, and for the
+remainder of the route, be a part of the procession. Gwen, first
+flatly refused to ride, but after much coaxing she finally consented,
+and took her place beside Max, and so odd was the expression of her
+face that Max afterward said that he could not tell whether she was
+"mad or scared."
+
+"Half mad and half scared," Gwen replied. "Mad to have to ride again
+with you, and scared for fear Neddy would run away again."
+
+The donkey behaved very well, however. He had run all he cared to for
+one while, and he walked along behind the Sea King's chariot, as
+quietly as if he had never once dreamed of running away.
+
+After a while, Gwen began to be so glad that she was indeed, in the
+pageant, that she looked about her, and actually smiled when some of
+the other children spoke to her.
+
+At the end of the route, a fine lunch was served in a pavilion that
+looked out on the beach.
+
+Captain Atherton had provided it, and it was heartily enjoyed by all
+who had taken part in the pageant, as well their friends who were also
+invited.
+
+After the good things had been partaken of, the little guests danced
+to the music furnished by an orchestra that had been playing during
+the feasting, and eyes sparkled, and cheeks grew rosy with excitement.
+
+It had been a delightful day, and for days afterward the children and
+those who had been spectators, talked of the lovely pageant, that had
+made its glittering way along the beach.
+
+Captain Seaford sat just outside the door of his house, mending a net,
+or rather, attempting to mend it, for his mind was not upon his work,
+and from time to time he let the net lie on his knees, while he looked
+out across the dancing waves as he was hoping to see a vessel appear
+on the horizon.
+
+He would sit thus for a time, and then shake his head and resume his
+work.
+
+A dancing, springing footstep brought Sprite to the door, and as soon
+as she saw how eagerly he scanned the sea, she crept softly toward
+him, and laying her hand upon his shoulder, peeped around into his
+eyes.
+
+"What you thinking of, Pa?" she asked quickly.
+
+"Nothing much little girl," he said gently.
+
+She lifted her fore-finger, nodding wisely as she spoke.
+
+"It might not be much," she said, "but it's enough so you worry about
+it. Tell me, Pa, what's vexing you."
+
+After a moment in which both were silent, she spoke again, but with
+her soft little arms about his neck.
+
+"Was it about Ma, or me you were thinking?" she asked. "You looked so
+sober, that I know it was about someone that you cared for."
+
+"I was thinking of you both, Sprite," he said, as he drew her closer,
+"and of the vessel that is almost a week overdue. If she comes in, the
+venture that I made on her cargo, will bring what some folks would
+call a small sum of money, but to us, it would be a small fortune."
+
+"A week overdue! I'm not so selfish that I don't give a thought for
+those on board that have perished if she's lost. That's simply doubled
+the worry."
+
+A warm tear fell on his rough hand, and he looked up quickly.
+
+"Tut, tut! Little Sprite! Don't cry yet. It may be that she's only
+delayed, and will sail into port, with all hands on board and her
+cargo safe. You're too young to worry now. Cheer up! Pa's not really
+worrying yet, only wondering, little Sprite, wondering."
+
+That would have settled the matter for some children, but Sprite saw
+more clearly, thought more deeply than does the average child, and she
+knew that he was trying to cheer and comfort her while at heart he was
+deeply concerned, for the fate of the vessel for which he had been
+eagerly waiting.
+
+"But she could come in now and be all right, couldn't she?" Sprite
+asked. "Or is it so late that you almost know that something has
+happened to her?"
+
+"No, no, Sprite. It's not too late for her to arrive safe and sound,
+but as the days pass I catch myself watching a bit closer for her
+coming. Why did the tears come, Sprite? I never like to have you
+grieving, dear."
+
+"The tears always come if I think anything has disappointed you, or
+Ma," Sprite said, softly. "That's why I tried so hard to win the prize
+last Spring, when all the other pupils were working for it, too. I
+didn't care half so much about getting it for myself, as for you."
+
+He drew her yet closer.
+
+"Dear little Sprite," he said.
+
+"And now I'm going to hope that the vessel will come sailing in with
+a big load of luck on board. I'll tell you one thing; I saw the moon
+over my right shoulder last night, and all the sailors say that's
+lucky."
+
+Captain Seaford laughed at this bit of superstition offered to him as
+a crumb of comfort.
+
+She laughed with him, and stooping, picked up a small star fish.
+
+"I'll toss this up three times. If it comes down on the sand, twice
+out of three times right side up, it will be the same as saying that
+the vessel is safe, and will return all right."
+
+Three times she tossed it up, only a few inches from the sand lest it
+break.
+
+"Once! Right side up!" she cried, a rippling laugh following her
+words.
+
+"Twice! Wrong side up! Oh, Pa, which will it be next time?"
+
+A moment she stood irresolute as if half fearing to test their luck
+the third time. She turned the star fish over and over in her hand,
+then, as if she thought waiting useless, she tossed it lightly up.
+
+"Oo--oo! Look! Look Pa!" she cried, "It's right side up! Pa, I do
+believe the vessel will come in safely. My! Wouldn't it have been
+awful if the star fish had fallen the other side up?"
+
+"My little Sprite is a great comfort," he said, "and the tossing of
+the star fish is harmless fun, but I'd not like to think that you'd
+believe all the superstitious yarns that the sailors tell."
+
+"Oh, no," was the earnest reply. "I know that some of them could not
+be true, but there's one funny one that a sailor down on the pier told
+yesterday.
+
+"He said you could go down stairs backwards after dark, and look into
+a mirror you held in your hand, and see something, I don't know what,
+but I'm going to try it. I'll try it just to know what I'd see, or to
+find out what would happen. He said something was sure, just _sure_ to
+happen."
+
+"The something that would happen would be that you'd fall, and perhaps
+break your pretty neck," Captain Seaford said, "but as to what you'd
+see in the glass! Why, that is all nonsense. Here and there is a
+sailor that's as full of such silly notions as a weather vane.
+
+"That sort of sailor listens to all the yarns he hears, believes them
+all, tells them all, and generally he isn't any too careful to tell
+them just as he heard them.
+
+"He's apt to add just a little of his own nonsense to the yarn he
+heard to make it interesting."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A WEDDING AT CLIFFMORE
+
+
+The playmates who were at Cliffmore for the Summer were having a
+delightful time, but in a quiet way, John Gifford, or "Gyp," as he was
+still called, was very happy, and also very busy.
+
+At the end of the school year in June, he had stood at the head of his
+class, and now, employed by Captain Atherton, he knew that he was
+respected, and that he had honestly earned that respect.
+
+"I'm to be the hired 'man' on his place," he said, "so I'll be earning
+something, while I study evenings, for I mean to get somewhere worth
+while. I don't mind if anyone in Avondale who likes me, calls me
+"Gyp." It sounds friendly, but I'll not always be known as Gyp, the
+gypsy boy. When I get out in the world I'll be John Gifford, and I
+mean business. I don't know yet just what I'll do, but Captain
+Atherton will advise me, and with his help, I'll be able to decide."
+
+Of course there were a few who continued to shake their heads, and say
+that "A gypsy is always a gypsy, and what can you expect of a boy
+brought up, or rather permitted to grow up, as Gyp has been?"
+
+The larger number of the people of Avondale seemed determined to take
+a more cheerful view of it, and to believe in the boy, even as he now
+seemed to believe in himself.
+
+Gyp proved that he needed no watching, for he commenced work early
+each day, and never stopped until night.
+
+The lawn was carefully clipped, the flowers and lawn were given an
+abundance of water, vines were trained, and shrubs were trimmed, until
+after a month of Gyp's care, the place looked finer than ever before.
+
+Captain Atherton left Cliffmore one day to visit Avondale, and get
+some papers that he remembered having left in his safe.
+
+As he walked up the path he noticed what fine care the place had
+received during his absence. The lawn had never looked so green, the
+plants and shrubs had never blossomed so freely.
+
+As he stood looking about him the click of the lawn mower caused him
+to turn just as Gyp came around the corner of the house.
+
+"You've worked wonders here, Gyp," the Captain said. "I always had a
+fairly good lawn, and much could be said of the vines and the
+flowers, but everything looks far better than it ever did before.
+Where did you get the knowledge to do the work so well, and so
+successfully?"
+
+"I asked the gardener down in the Center, the one who takes care of
+the parks, to tell me how to do my best for you, and then--I did it,"
+Gyp said, simply.
+
+"Work like that at whatever you undertake, and you'll be pretty sure
+to achieve success," said Captain Atherton.
+
+"I mean to," Gyp replied, firmly, and as he looked after the fine
+figure ascending the steps to the porch he murmured:
+
+"I'll do my very best for him," while Captain John Atherton said, as
+he opened the door of his safe to take out the papers that he needed:
+"That boy is worth helping, and I'll help him."
+
+With the genial Captain away, the housekeeper felt free to enjoy a bit
+of gossip, and seeing the cook in the garden of the next house, she
+slipped out of the rear door, and across the lawn, where, that her
+coming might look like a mere happening, she took a bit of paper from
+her pocket, and commenced scribbling upon it.
+
+She wished the cook in the next garden to think that she was jotting
+down a few things that she wished to remember.
+
+Curiosity was at once aroused, and the cook moved toward the hedge.
+
+"E'hem!" she coughed softly.
+
+The housekeeper turned coolly.
+
+"Oh, good morning," she said. "I just come out here for a bit of a
+rest, there's so much going on just now, that I'm nearly wild with the
+planning."
+
+"Do tell!" cried the cook. "I've heard there was to be great doings
+of some sort over at 'The Cliffs,' but I haven't yet heard what it is.
+What's it all about? I'm wild to know."
+
+Mrs. Wilton sighed, as if she were already very weary.
+
+"We're not more than half ready for the great event," she said, "but
+Captain Atherton does not wish me to tell anyone the least thing about
+it."
+
+"Mercy sakes! Why I came out purpose to hear!" said the cook, her
+round face very red, and her little eyes snapping.
+
+"Well, you'll hear later," Mrs. Wilton said, and turning, she walked
+across the lawn and entered the house.
+
+Inside the door she whispered:
+
+"There! I guess that paid her for being so private that she wouldn't
+tell me a thing about the company that left their house in such a
+hurry one day last week, and hustled off before daylight at that!"
+
+The cook, still standing with her fat arms akimbo, stared wrathfully
+at the closed door where the housekeeper had vanished.
+
+"Well, of all the mean things not even telling a decent woman like
+myself one bit of what's going on there! I'll find out, though, some
+way. To-morrow is my afternoon off, and I'll go from one end of this
+town to the other to see what I can hear."
+
+Even little Rose Atherton was pledged to keep the secret.
+
+"We're to have a lovely time at our house," she said to Polly and
+Sprite, one morning. "We're to have a perfectly lovely time, and
+you'll be there to enjoy it, but that is all I can tell. Uncle John
+said I could say that if I wished to but that I musn't tell any more
+just now."
+
+"Well, we won't mind waiting to hear just what it is," Polly said,
+"because we know it will be nice, whatever sort of party it is. We
+always have a nice time at your house."
+
+"And we'll like it all the better because there's to be a surprise of
+some sort," said Sprite.
+
+"We can wonder and wonder, and then when the day comes we'll have the
+fun of not guessing what it is, but just knowing what it is and
+enjoying it."
+
+Rose looked very wise.
+
+"It's to be lovely, I told you that, and there's one thing more I can
+tell, and that is that it will be different from any party we ever
+went to, or any party any of us ever had."
+
+"Won't we be glad when we haven't to wait any longer to know just what
+kind of a party it is?" said Sprite.
+
+"Oh, yes," agreed Princess Polly, "and so will ever so many other
+people, for I've heard people talking about it, and saying that they
+were tired of guessing, and that they wished they knew now, instead of
+having to wait still longer to know."
+
+"It won't be very long now before they know," Rose said, laughing
+gaily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The secret was out, because the invitations were out.
+
+Captain John Atherton, the genial master of the beautiful home at
+Cliffmore, known as "The Cliffs," and of an equally beautiful estate
+at Avondale, was to marry the girl whom he had always faithfully
+loved.
+
+The misunderstanding that had parted them had come about because of
+the loss of a miniature of the girl, Iris Vandmere.
+
+Its loss had grieved John Atherton.
+
+He could not imagine how it could have so completely vanished. In
+truth, it had been stolen, but Iris thought that her lover must have
+valued it lightly, believing if he had properly guarded it, it could
+not have been taken from him. One word had led to another, and she had
+sent him away, grieving and wretched.
+
+Her own heart was not less sad, but she had endeavored to hide that.
+Then, on that lucky day of the Summer before, Princess Polly had found
+the exquisite miniature lying in the middle of the sandy road.
+
+How it came to be there, no one could say. Evidently someone, perhaps,
+the one who had stolen it, had dropped it, and travelled on, unaware
+that the famous miniature lay waiting a claimant, on the main road of
+Cliffmore.
+
+The Summer colony was excited, but of all those who were invited to be
+present, none were more lovingly interested than the children.
+
+John Atherton loved the children, and they dearly loved him.
+
+One would have thought that the grand old house of the Vandmere's
+would have been chosen for the wedding, but Iris was quite alone
+there, save for her servants.
+
+Both parents had but recently passed away, and the lonely girl felt
+that the home with its sad memories was not at all the place for the
+happy event.
+
+"Let it be at Cliffmore," she had said, and at Cliffmore it was to be.
+
+"Only think of it," Princess Polly said one morning, "Rose is to be
+maid of honor, and Sprite and I are to be bridesmaids. Rose is to wear
+pink, with pink roses, and we shall wear white with pink roses. Miss
+Iris will wear white, because brides always wear white. Mamma, why
+can't brides sometimes wear something else?"
+
+Mrs. Sherwood laughed.
+
+"This time the bride will wear 'something else.' Miss Vandmere's gown
+will be of the palest blue satin, and beautiful lace," she said.
+
+"Oh, how lovely!" cried Princess Polly.
+
+At last the great day arrived, just as the children felt that they
+could not wait much longer.
+
+It was like a dream of Fairyland, for the great gardens at "The
+Cliffs" had never looked finer, the rooms were bowers of flowers and
+foliage, soft music floated through the halls, and then, Iris in
+shimmering blue satin, attended by her dainty little maids, came
+forward to the floral arch, where handsome Captain Atherton stood
+waiting.
+
+After the ceremony, the guests moved forward to kiss the lovely bride,
+and Iris, bent to give her first kiss to her little maid of honor.
+
+"You are _my_ little Rose, now," she whispered, and Rose, happy Rose,
+clasped her arms about her soft, white neck.
+
+And quite as the weddings in the old fairy tales it was, for the
+banquet was like an old time feast, and dancing, in which the Captain
+and his bride took part, followed.
+
+When, after a gay, brilliant evening, the happy pair said "good-bye,"
+their friends gathered about them, wishing them a pleasant voyage on
+the _Dolphin_, a safe return, and all good fortune.
+
+Never a thought of loneliness had little Rose. During Uncle John's
+absence, she was to be with her dear Princess Polly, and what could be
+better than that?
+
+For a few more weeks they would be at the shore, and Rose would be at
+the Sherwood's cottage, at play all day with Princess Polly and
+Sprite.
+
+Then she would leave Cliffmore with the Sherwoods, and go with them to
+Avondale, there to remain until, upon his return, Uncle John, and the
+lovely, new Aunt Iris, should come for her. Rose was delighted to stay
+with Princess Polly, and she looked forward to her home with Uncle
+John, now to be even pleasanter than before, because of the sweet, new
+relative, whom she already loved.
+
+The day after the wedding, Gwen decided to go over to "The Cliffs" to
+learn if Rose were there, and if she were so lucky as to find her, to
+remain and play with her. It would be a fine way to spend the morning.
+
+She had quarreled with Max.
+
+She was always either vexed with him or just making up, and no one
+could ever guess which had happened, because Gwen looked quite as
+cheerful after a disagreement, as when the friendship had been
+renewed.
+
+She hurried along the beach, rushing past a group of small girls whom
+she often played with, because she meant surely to find Rose before
+she might leave "The Cliffs" to go over to Princess Polly's house.
+
+She knew that the walk would be a long one, yet it seemed farther than
+she thought.
+
+The sun was hot, and the sand seemed burning under the thin soles of
+her dainty shoes.
+
+"How long it takes me to get there!" she said impatiently. "I couldn't
+run all the way."
+
+She reached the low gate a few minutes later, however, and opening it,
+swung it wide between the two stone posts, and ran up the path,
+laughing when the gate swung to with a clang of its iron latch.
+
+Mrs. Wilton, the housekeeper, opened the door, believing that some
+important person had arrived, for the bell had rung as if the opening
+of the door were imperative.
+
+She was not pleased to see the small girl standing there.
+
+"No, Rose is not here," she said in answer to Gwen's question. "She is
+to stay with Polly while her Uncle John is away. She went over there
+this morning."
+
+"Why this is 'this morning'," Gwen said, pertly.
+
+"It is ten o'clock, and Rose went over to the Sherwood house at
+eight," the housekeeper said, at the same time stepping back, as if
+she intended to close the door.
+
+She was free to close it as soon as she chose, for Gwen had turned,
+and without a word or a glance, raced down the path, out of the
+gateway and up the beach to join Rose and Polly whom she now saw
+standing and talking.
+
+"Hello!" she cried, as she drew nearer. "I've been over to 'The
+Cliffs' to find you, Rose, and then I came here. What you two talking
+about?"
+
+"Trying to choose what to play," Rose said.
+
+Both wished that Gwen had remained away, but they could not be rude,
+so she of course would join in the game, whatever it might be. It was
+a warm morning, and Princess Polly was just thinking that it would be
+fine to choose a shady spot, and sit there telling fairy tales, but
+Gwen's arrival made that impossible.
+
+She never cared to listen while someone told a story. To be happy she
+must be the story teller, and as her stories were always wildly
+improbable, and always about her silly little self, they were never at
+all interesting.
+
+For that matter, she was never willing to join in any game unless it
+was very exciting.
+
+Several games were suggested by Rose and Polly, but to all Gwen shook
+her head, and refused to play either one of them.
+
+One she thought too stupid, another she declared that she had never
+liked, and, yet another was "awfully dull" she said.
+
+At last Rose lost patience.
+
+"What _will_ you play?" she asked sharply, her cheeks flushing.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," Gwen replied carelessly. "I guess I won't play at
+all, anyway not with you two. I'll run back and find Max Deland. He's
+good fun, and he'll surely be able to think of something I'll like to
+play. He most always does, and I like him because he is wide awake.
+Good-bye!" and she was off like a flash down the beach.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+AUNT ROSE CALLS
+
+
+There had been many sunny days with blue skies, and never a cloud in
+sight, when one day, to the surprise of everyone, the sky appeared to
+be a solid mass of dark, leaden clouds, and the sea that for such a
+long time had been glistening and sparkling, now showed only a dark
+sullen surface, with here and there a whitecap to break its monotony.
+
+Rose and Polly had decided to remain indoors, and all the afternoon
+they had been busy sorting the shells that they had been collecting.
+
+"I wish I had more of these," said Polly, pointing to a little heap of
+oddly shaped shells, white in color, with here and there markings of
+soft brown.
+
+"I wish so too," Rose said. "We've less of that kind than we have of
+any of the others. I wonder how it happened that we didn't get more of
+those?"
+
+"I don't know, but if it is pleasant to-morrow, let's hunt for some,"
+said Polly.
+
+Mrs. Sherwood called, and Polly putting the tray full of shells upon
+the table, went out across the hall to reply.
+
+Rose hurried down stairs to the hall, out onto the piazza, along the
+flower bordered path to the gate, then out and off down the beach.
+
+Polly never liked to be out when the sky was cloudy and the wind raw,
+but Rose cared not a bit, and she had gone out thinking to give Polly
+a surprise.
+
+She meant to find some of the coveted shells, and run home with them
+before Polly should have missed her.
+
+She looked back at the Sherwood cottage. How pretty it was, and quite
+like a country house with its well kept lawn, its flowers in the
+gardens, and even at the gate, a rose vine clambering over.
+
+Swiftly she ran along the beach to a spot where usually they had found
+the most shells.
+
+A few there were, but none like those that Polly wanted, and she
+trudged along, looking sharply at every shell that lay imbedded in the
+hard, wet sand, from which the tide had receded.
+
+She had been gone nearly an hour although she did not dream that it
+was so long since she had left the house.
+
+She had known that Polly would not follow her, because of the cold
+wind that was blowing so briskly. A rift in the clouds had let the
+sunlight through, and when she reached the gate, the garden was bathed
+in sunlight.
+
+Rose paused for a moment to look at the flowers, now gay in the bright
+sunshine, when the sound of voices came toward her, and while one was
+the pleasant voice of Mrs. Sherwood, the other was surely the voice
+of--Great Aunt Rose!
+
+"Captain Atherton asked that Rose might remain with us while he is
+away," Rose heard Mrs. Sherwood say to which the cold voice of Great
+Aunt Rose replied sternly:
+
+"Well, and if he did, I see no reason why she can not spend a part of
+the time with me at the old Atherton house which I have always felt
+was her proper home."
+
+Little Rose Atherton's heart beat faster. She still stood at the
+gate, and she wondered that, for a moment, neither spoke.
+
+Then Great Aunt Rose broke the silence.
+
+"I was away at the time of the wedding, but had I been present, I
+should have at that time _insisted_ that the Captain leave her with
+me, not only during his cruise on the _Dolphin_, but after his return.
+
+"The young woman whom he has married is a beauty, and so of course,
+will be too full of dress and society to have any interest in little
+Rose. If John has chosen to wed a flighty beauty, he should at least
+give Rose to me."
+
+"Miss Vandmere is indeed beautiful to look at, but she is lovely in
+character as well, and I know that she loves Rose," Mrs. Sherwood said
+quietly.
+
+She would not argue, but she felt that, in justice she must give
+utterance to the fine regard in which she held Iris Vandmere.
+
+    [Illustration: "She still stood at the gate."]
+
+"There are, I suppose, some beauties who are neither vain nor foolish,
+but however that may be, I am determined to see Rose to-day, and to
+ask her if she does not wish to return with me."
+
+At these words uttered in a shrill, angry voice, Rose turned and raced
+down the beach.
+
+She dropped the shells that she had been tightly holding, and without
+a thought of recovering them, she ran at top speed, as if, at that
+very moment stately Great Aunt Rose had been actually chasing her.
+
+She had no idea how far she had run, she had not paused for even a
+second, nor had she once looked back. Now as she looked up, she saw a
+narrow side street that commenced at the shore, but well up from the
+water, and ran toward the center of the little village.
+
+She was almost breathless as she turned into the little street, but
+she dared not stop running.
+
+The very thought of ever returning to the stately old Atherton house,
+with its great dark halls, its formal drawing-room, and for companion,
+gentle Aunt Lois, kind but so deaf that it was almost impossible to
+talk with her, and cold, dignified, haughty Great Aunt Rose, filled
+little Rose with terror.
+
+She was now completely tired out, and as she turned the corner of the
+next street, she stumbled, and would have fallen but for two strong
+arms that caught her. She looked up.
+
+"Why little Rose!"
+
+"Oh, Aunt Judith! Dear Aunt Judith, take me home with you now, right
+off, this very minute!" cried Rose. "Don't stop to ask why! Just take
+me now! Come! They may be here any minute! Come!"
+
+"Why, Rose! What does this mean?" cried Aunt Judith.
+
+"I was on my way to call upon Mrs. Sherwood, and ask you and Polly to
+come up to my little cottage and spend to-morrow with me, and here you
+are, looking for all the world as if you were running away. I musn't
+run off with you like this."
+
+"Oh, but _do_, Aunt Judith. Please do! It isn't safe to wait a minute.
+I'll tell you everything when we're safe at your cottage. Come!"
+
+The fear in Rose's brown eyes was so evident, that although it seemed
+a strange thing to do, Aunt Judith turned about, and with Rose
+clinging to her arm, started in the direction of the station. A train
+was already made up, and about to start for Avondale.
+
+They were soon seated, and Rose drew a sigh of relief when the train
+started.
+
+"Now, I'm safe," she said, leaning against Aunt Judith.
+
+It was not until they were inside the cottage at Avondale, at
+twilight, the shades drawn and the lamps lighted that Rose told what
+had frightened her, and why she had run away.
+
+"I don't wonder that you were frightened," Aunt Judith said. "If John
+had been at home you would have been brave, but gentle Mrs. Sherwood
+seemed to you to be no match for Great Aunt Rose. I do not think as
+you do. For all her gentleness Mrs. Sherwood is a fine character, and
+I do not think she would permit anyone to take you from her home when
+you had been left in her care by your Uncle John.
+
+"There is another thing to be thought of. Great Aunt Rose has left the
+Sherwood cottage long before this, and Mrs. Sherwood and Princess
+Polly I believe are greatly frightened by your absence. Don't you know
+that they must have been searching for you now for at least two hours,
+and not finding you, they will fear that you have come to harm.
+
+"If only you had told me what it was that had so frightened you, I
+would have returned with you to Mrs. Sherwood, and have helped
+convince your aunt that you could not go home with her.
+
+"Great Aunt Rose would not actually take you by force."
+
+"Oh, she would!" cried Rose, "and I'm glad we're here, but we can let
+them know that I am safe, and that I am here with you, and why I came.
+I'd go back to them to-morrow if I knew Great Aunt Rose wouldn't go
+there again, and try to get me.
+
+"Oh, the great old Atherton house is so grand, and yet so lonely, and
+she doesn't love me. She was always telling me while I was there that
+the reason she wanted me to live there was because I was an Atherton,
+and she said the proper place for me to live was in the old Atherton
+house.
+
+"She said there had always been a 'Rose Atherton' in the family even
+'way, 'way back, and that every 'Rose Atherton' had lived in that
+house, and when I said I pitied them, she was angry, and she said I'd
+no reason to. She said the others were proud of this family, and glad
+to live there, and that I was the odd one. She said it was strange
+I'd rather live with Uncle John, and I said it _wasn't_ strange
+because he was so loving.
+
+"Oh, I can't bear to think of the time that I lived there, and I'm
+glad I ran away from Polly's house before Great Aunt Rose saw me. I
+know she would have snatched me away from the Sherwood's.
+
+"I was peeping in at the gate when I heard her voice.
+
+"She was telling Mrs. Sherwood that I ought to go home and stay with
+her while Uncle John is away.
+
+"I didn't wait a minute, but raced down the beach just as fast as I
+could. Then I thought if she came out, she might see me on the beach
+even at a distance, so I turned into a side street, and the next
+corner I turned brought me straight to you."
+
+There was indeed consternation in the Sherwood cottage when, after the
+unpleasant caller had left the house, Polly commenced to look for
+Rose, and no Rose could be found, though thorough search was made, the
+servants gladly assisting, and just as Polly was crying, and declaring
+that she could not taste the least bit of food until Rose was found,
+the telephone rang.
+
+Glad news it was that Rose was safe with Aunt Judith, and Mrs.
+Sherwood and Polly accepted Aunt Judith's invitation to come and spend
+the next day at her cottage.
+
+Aunt Judith had gone a short distance to Mrs. Grafton's house, and she
+had sent her message from there.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Harry, as Aunt Judith turned from the telephone. "I'm
+glad it happened that Rose had to run away, for we've missed her all
+these weeks that she's been spending at the shore. We'll be over
+to-morrow to see her, won't we, Leslie?" and he gave one of Leslie's
+long curls a sly twitch.
+
+"We surely will, unless you pull all my hair out when I'd want to hide
+my head," Leslie said, laughing.
+
+"Oh, pshaw! The way I pull your curls amounts to just love pats,"
+Harry cried.
+
+"You wouldn't say so if I twitched your hair like that," Leslie
+responded.
+
+"I guess I'll go down and get my hair shingled so you won't be able to
+get hold of it," he said. "Lend me a quarter, Leslie? I spent all I
+had to-day on candy and a new bat."
+
+Leslie refused and Harry chased her, the two laughing as they ran.
+
+"I never saw a brother and sister who played together so prettily,"
+Aunt Judith said.
+
+"They are great chums," Mrs. Grafton said. "Of course Harry has his
+boy friends, and Leslie is very fond of Lena Lindsey, but for all that
+my boy and girl are fast friends, and they love each other dearly."
+
+"I like to see it," Aunt Judith said.
+
+She hurried back to the cottage where Rose at the window was eagerly
+watching for her.
+
+"Mrs. Sherwood's voice sounded very anxious when she replied to my
+call at the telephone, and the tone of quick relief when I told her
+that you were safe here at the cottage with me was very evident.
+
+"Polly had cried until she was about sick, but of course, she will be
+all right now, and they will both be with us here to-morrow, for the
+day."
+
+"That will be fine," cried Rose, "and you'll set the larger table
+to-morrow, and make it look fine, but to-night, Aunt Judith, just
+to-night let's have the little tea table, just as we used to when I
+lived here with you, with the pretty pale green dishes, and the dear
+little sugar and cream set with the pink moss-rose buds on it. May we,
+Aunt Judith?"
+
+Aunt Judith came and took the pretty face between her two hands, and
+looked into the eager brown eyes for a moment.
+
+"We'll have our little tea just as we used to, because it will please
+you, and because I'd like nothing better," she said.
+
+"And let me help at the table, just as I used to," Rose said, and
+together they worked, Rose bringing the rosebud china, while Aunt
+Judith brought the pale green plates, and cups and saucers from the
+little china closet, and placed them upon the dainty, spindle-legged
+table. There were tiny, fresh rolls, chocolate with cream, a dish of
+raspberry jam of which Rose was very fond, and even the little round
+pound cakes that Rose so well remembered. Aunt Judith had sent a small
+boy to purchase them for her while she was telephoning at Mrs.
+Grafton's.
+
+When all was ready, they took their places, Aunt Judith pouring the
+chocolate, while Rose served the cream from the dainty jug, and
+dropped the cubes of sugar from the quaint little silver tongs.
+
+"Aunt Judith, I'm so happy with Uncle John, that everything I have at
+his home seems perfect, but there's one queer thing that I don't
+understand. No raspberry jam ever seems just like the jam I always
+had at this cottage."
+
+Aunt Judith was delighted.
+
+"To think that you would always remember the jam, and think it a bit
+nicer than any other!" she said.
+
+"Perhaps it was because we were choice of it, and served it on Sundays
+and holidays that made you think it extra nice."
+
+Rose leaned toward her and laid her hand upon her arm. "And perhaps it
+was because you always kept the jam in that lovely cream colored crock
+that has the butterflies upon it. I do believe things taste nicer for
+being kept in pretty jars like that."
+
+"I think so, too," Aunt Judith said, "but your Uncle John has
+beautiful china, so doubtless his housekeeper could find plenty of
+pretty dishes for serving."
+
+"Oh, she does," Rose replied, "but in the closet, the jam is kept in a
+stone crock, while yours was always in the butterfly jar that I always
+thought so lovely."
+
+"The dearest thing about this cosy little tea is the fact----" Aunt
+Judith bent to kiss her cheek, "that I have you for my guest, little
+Rose."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+AT AVONDALE
+
+
+Harry was ready to go over to the cottage at eight the next morning,
+but Leslie declared it a ridiculous hour to call.
+
+"Call!" cried Harry. "Who's going to make a prim old call, I'd like to
+know? S'pose a fellow is going to lug a card case just to go and play
+with Rose?"
+
+"Of course not," said Leslie, "but even if we are just going over to
+the cottage to play, we'd not care to get there when she's eating
+breakfast."
+
+"Well, I guess there's no chance of doing that, Leslie. Look at the
+clock. It is after eight now, and we're still at table."
+
+"I'll go over with you at nine," Leslie said, and when the clock
+struck nine, she found him just outside the door, his shrill whistle
+having told her where to find him.
+
+"Come on!" he cried. "It's nine, and if you won't come with me now
+I'll go over to see Rose without you."
+
+"Well, I'll have to go back now," Leslie said, and turning, she ran
+across the hall, and up the stairway, laughing as she went.
+
+"Good-bye!" shouted Harry, and off he sped, thinking it a great joke
+on Leslie that he should keep his word, and because she was causing
+the delay, run off to the cottage instead of waiting for her.
+
+Leslie, never dreaming but that he was waiting on the walk just
+outside the door, wondered that he did not whistle or call to her to
+hurry.
+
+She had gone back for a book that she intended to give Rose, and in
+her haste she could not at once find it.
+
+At last she saw a bit of its cover beneath a mass of lace and ribbon,
+in the corner of the drawer where she had placed it for safe keeping,
+and catching it up, flew down the stairway and out upon the porch.
+
+For a moment she paused, wondering where Harry might be, when a merry
+shout made her look up.
+
+Away up the avenue, just opening the cottage gate, was Harry, and even
+as she looked, he disappeared behind the tall shrubbery in the garden.
+
+"Well, isn't he great?" Leslie said, as she started to run.
+
+Rose and Harry were just behind a tall shrub that overhung the
+gateway, and as Leslie pushed the gate open they sprang forward in a
+fine attempt to startle her, but she only laughed.
+
+"You couldn't make me jump," she said, "because I saw a bit of Rose's
+pink dress between the branches, and Harry moved his head so that I
+saw his yellow hair."
+
+"Why didn't you speak, and tell us you knew where we were hiding?"
+Harry asked, a nice bit vexed that Leslie had not "jumped."
+
+"I thought you ought to have the fun of springing out at me, after
+you'd hidden so nicely," Leslie said.
+
+"Better luck next time," said Rose, and together they ran around
+behind the cottage to learn if the little brook was as clear, and as
+rippling as when Rose, in the early Summer, had sailed her little boat
+upon it.
+
+"The brook is here!" cried Harry. "It hasn't run away yet."
+
+A ragged little chap now approached them, but they did not see him.
+They were kneeling on the bank and looking at the reflections in a
+little pool where no ripple stirred the surface.
+
+The comical little fellow might have kept away from them had they been
+facing him, but as their backs were toward him, he felt quite brave.
+
+He was a droll looking urchin. His trousers evidently belonged to an
+older brother, as the legs had been rolled over and over in an effort
+to make them short enough so that he might walk without treading upon
+them. His blouse must have been the property of the same person, for
+the sleeves had received the same treatment as the trouser legs, that
+he might be able to use his hands. Upon his head rested an old straw
+hat. A big hole in the crown permitted a sprout of red hair to pop
+out, and a pair of shoes, not mates, completed his odd costume. He
+continued to approach until he stood within a few feet of Harry
+Grafton, and then he paused, as if wishing that one of the group might
+turn, and greet him.
+
+With chubby hands clasped behind his back he waited. He was evidently
+in no hurry, but after a time he became impatient.
+
+"Hello!" he said, and Harry turned.
+
+"Hello, little chap! Who are you?" Harry asked.
+
+Ignoring the question, the small boy eyed Harry for a second, then he
+lisped:
+
+"Where'th Gyp? Ma thaid: 'Find Gyp.'"
+
+"Are you Gyp's little brother?" Harry asked.
+
+The small head in the big hat nodded.
+
+"What's your name?" inquired Harry.
+
+"Motheth," said the child.
+
+"_Moses!_" cried Harry. "You must be wise. Are you?"
+
+"I do' no', but I got to find Gyp, for Ma thaid I wouldn't have no
+dinner unleth I found him, an' I want my dinner now."
+
+"And yet you haven't found Gyp," Harry said. "Well, I saw him a little
+while ago at work on the lawn over at Captain Atherton's house. Run
+over there and look for him. Scoot! He may go off while you're waiting
+to think about it."
+
+Wee Moses waited for no urging, but raced across Aunt Judith's lawn,
+out of the gate, and down the avenue, the tuft of red hair waving like
+a flaming feather on the crown of his hat.
+
+"Just notice his speed," cried Harry, and Rose and Leslie laughed as
+the comical figure turned, and bolted up the driveway of the Atherton
+place.
+
+"That is only one of Gyp's small brothers," Leslie said.
+
+"I never knew that he had one named Moses," said Rose.
+
+"I've heard you tell their names, Harry," Leslie said, "but I never
+remember them all. I know there is a Mike, and a Pete, and isn't one
+named Hank?"
+
+"Yes, and there's Luke and a little fellow that they call Sonny while
+they're trying to decide what to name him," said Harry, "and really
+he's such a funny looking little fellow that it would be hard work to
+think of a name that would fit him."
+
+"There is a girl over on the other part of the town whose name is
+Tulip Rose Lillian Buttrick, and she told the girls that her parents
+gave her all those names because they couldn't decide which they liked
+best."
+
+"What an idea!" cried Rose. "Well, I'm glad I haven't Tulip and
+Lillian added to my name."
+
+"I don't see why those people stopped at all," Harry said, "for
+there's dandelion, and phlox and marigold, and a whole lot of other
+flower names. Seems sort of stingy to give her only three."
+
+"Oh, Harry! Nobody would name a girl 'Phlox,' think how it would look
+written," Leslie said.
+
+"I guess they don't worry about how it would look written," Harry
+said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was when Rose and Leslie and Harry were resting after an exciting
+game, that Mrs. Sherwood and Princess Polly arrived.
+
+Then the fun began.
+
+Mrs. Sherwood went in to talk with Aunt Judith, and the four playmates
+ran over to the Grafton's for a game of tennis. And while they were
+playing, eagerly hoping to win, each trying to outdo the other, little
+Sprite Seaford sat in the odd little living room of her home, sorting
+her treasures, and at the same time thinking what a fine time Princess
+Polly must be having at Aunt Judith's cottage with Rose and her other
+playmates.
+
+The pretty shells, the coral, and the star fish, each had places of
+their own, but they had been taken out to show to some callers the
+afternoon before, and Sprite was now engaged in replacing them, each
+in its own especial place.
+
+Captain Seaford was out fishing and Mrs. Seaford had gone to the
+village to do a few errands so Sprite was free to take her time about
+the task.
+
+Softly she sang as she placed the white shells in one row, and the
+pink shells in another.
+
+A smart tap at the door made her start, then she called:
+
+"Come in," and Gwen entered.
+
+Sprite wished that she had not answered the rap.
+
+"Goodness! What a heap of shells. What are you going to do with them?
+Going to keep them?" Gwen asked, in a manner that implied that she
+thought he lovely sea treasures simply rubbish.
+
+"_Keep_ them!" echoed Sprite. "Why of course I'm going to keep them."
+
+"They're pretty of course," Gwen admitted, "but it must be a horrid
+job to keep them in order. Leave them where they are and come out on
+the beach."
+
+"Oh, I can't," said Sprite, and she was about to say that she must
+place her shells and coral in safe positions before going out, but
+Gwen did not wait to hear what she had intended to say.
+
+Instead, she hurried out, banging the door behind her.
+
+"I'll find someone who'll do as I want to," she declared, and she ran
+up the beach to find Princess Polly, but Princess Polly and Rose were
+both at Avondale, and Gwen ran on to the center of the little coast
+village.
+
+"I'll find someone to play with, I don't care who it is," she said, as
+she raced along.
+
+When the sea trophies were all in their places, Sprite stepped back to
+view her work.
+
+A smile curved her lips, and her eyes grew brighter.
+
+"They look finer than they ever did before," she said softly, "and now
+I'll try to keep them just as they are arranged."
+
+Sprite Seaford was often called a little "Water Witch," from the fact
+that she was so much at home on the water.
+
+She could swim wonderfully well for so small a girl, and she managed
+her boat with skill.
+
+After another approving glance at the rows of softly tinted shells,
+she ran out onto the beach, and soon in her boat she was gliding along
+on the shallow water near the shore, her oars moving with slow
+precision, keeping time to the song that she was singing, or rather to
+the songs that she was singing, for she was making a gay little medley
+of many familiar tunes.
+
+The light breeze lifted her long, waving hair, and let it flutter back
+from her face, it kissed her cheeks, and made them pink like the
+shells that she valued most.
+
+The great gulls hovered overhead, flapping their wings, and circling
+about as if trying to determine what sort of little being it was that
+boasted such long tresses.
+
+Skimming over a bit of shallow water, she chanced to look down and
+there, on the sandy bottom, was a shell, different in shape from any
+in her collection.
+
+"I must have it," she cried, and in a second she had drawn the oars
+into the boat, had slipped into the shallow water, and having pushed
+the light boat toward the shore, swam along under water until she came
+to the spot where the shell lay.
+
+She came up to the surface to get the air, laughed, and swam downward
+again, snatched the coveted shell, and then made her way to where the
+little boat rocked on the waves.
+
+She was in it in a moment, and again plying the oars, her shell on the
+seat opposite that on which she was sitting.
+
+She had dressed herself in her little bathing suit, and she laughed as
+she saw that the warm breeze playing with her hair, was drying it,
+while her blouse and skirt were dripping and would continue to drip
+until hung up where the wind could blow through them.
+
+Rarely a day passed that Sprite did not spend with Polly and Rose, but
+to-day they were away, and she must amuse herself. They were her two
+dearest playmates, but the dancing waves were the next best.
+
+"I love to play with Princess Polly, and with Rose Atherton, and when
+I'm not playing with them, I like my boat," she said softly. "I would
+have asked Gwen to stay but I didn't want to her to.
+
+"Gwen so often says unpleasant things. Polly and Rose never do, and
+surely the boat doesn't. It never even answers back," she added with a
+laugh. Then for a time she plied the oars in silence, rowing always
+close along the shore, out from one little bay, and into another.
+
+Then someone hailed her.
+
+"Hi! Sprite! Sprite Seaford!"
+
+She turned on her seat, and there, on the beach, close to the water,
+was Max Deland.
+
+"Say! Have you seen Gwen Harcourt?" he asked, his hands held
+trumpet-wise, to carry his voice to her.
+
+"I saw her, oh, much as an hour ago, it may be longer," Sprite
+answered.
+
+"Oh, pshaw! I mean have you seen her within a short time?" cried Max,
+impatiently.
+
+"I _said_ I saw her an hour ago, and maybe longer," Sprite said.
+
+"I wonder it wasn't a week!" cried Max. "I want her now."
+
+With that he ran off down the beach, and Sprite wondered why he was in
+such evident haste.
+
+She turned the boat about, and rowed along in the direction that Max
+was going.
+
+She saw him run along the beach, then stop and take something, a small
+book she thought, from his pocket, look steadfastly at it for a few
+moments, and then, after thrusting it back into his pocket, run on
+again.
+
+She wondered what sort of book it was, and why Max seemed so very
+impatient in regard to seeing Gwen. He seemed bent upon running the
+entire length of the beach, and she watched him until he either
+entered, or ran behind the little shanty that some workmen were using
+as a tool house.
+
+"I believe Max is as queer in some ways as Gwen is," mused Sprite.
+
+"I wonder what that little book was, and why he had to stop to read
+it?"
+
+A moment later she laughed, as she said: "There's one thing everyone
+knows, and that is that when Max and Gwen are together, they're sure
+to get into mischief. No one ever spends a minute wondering about
+that, because they _know_."
+
+She ran the boat into shallow water, made it fast to a pile that had
+been placed there for the purpose, tying the rope through the iron
+ring on the post. Then she stepped over the side of the boat into the
+water, and waded ashore. She wrung the water from her skirt, took off
+her shoes and emptied the water from them, and then ran up the beach
+toward home.
+
+She opened the door and ran in.
+
+The Captain would be out on the fishing trip all day, and it was
+evident that Mrs. Seaford had not yet returned from her trip to the
+store.
+
+Sprite changed her drenched bathing suit for dry clothing, and hung
+the skirt and blouse up to dry.
+
+She wondered why it was that she kept thinking of Max and his little
+book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SHIP COMES IN
+
+
+It had been a warm, sunny day, the little waves had danced gaily, and
+the beach had been dazzling in the full glare of noonday, but the
+afternoon had been cooler, and at twilight the wind had changed from
+its warm quarter, to Northeast.
+
+Snug and warm in the "Syren's Cave," they heard the wind rising until
+it became an actual gale.
+
+The Captain had built a fire of drift wood, the squatty lamp on the
+table gave out a yellow glare, and around the table sat the three
+members of the family, the cat occupying the tiny rug in front of the
+fire. Puss purred contentedly, blinking when the sparks snapped and
+twinkled.
+
+Sprite bent over a fascinating book of fairy tales. The pictures were
+charming, the stories held her captive.
+
+Usually she enjoyed playing with puss in front of the fire, saving her
+book for stormy days, but she had opened the book to look at the
+softly tinted pictures, and the first story that held her attention
+was the "Tale of the Gold Children," and she became so interested in
+their travels in search of their fortunes and of each other, that she
+could not put the book aside.
+
+Her waving hair fell about her shoulders as she read, and the light
+from the big lamp shimmered upon it.
+
+Mrs. Seaford, busy with her sewing, paused at times to look at the
+child absorbed in her book.
+
+Captain Seaford, in a big arm chair, reading the "Cliffmore News,"
+looked exceedingly comfortable, but his wife knew that while he held
+the paper before him, he was merely glancing at the reading matter,
+while his mind was elsewhere.
+
+Often he put the paper down, laying it across his knees as if he were
+done reading. For a few moments he would sit thus, then again he would
+lift the paper as if he were endeavoring to keep his mind upon it, but
+finding it a difficult task.
+
+A heavy gust of wind made the windows rattle, and shook the door as if
+clamoring for admittance. A second later, something was hurled against
+the side of the house, as if the gale were using small pieces of
+driftwood for missiles.
+
+The Captain arose, dropped his paper in his chair, and strode to the
+door.
+
+He seemed to be trying to scan the horizon, as if looking for a sail,
+but no object, far or near could possibly be distinguished in the
+utter darkness that hung over land and sea.
+
+He turned about, closed the door, and picking up the paper, seated
+himself once more before the fire, but he did not read, allowing the
+paper to lie idly on his knees.
+
+"What is worrying you?" his wife asked gently, laying her hand upon
+his arm, and looking intently at him. "Is it anything new?"
+
+"It's the same thing, dear, that has kept me fretting for the last
+three weeks," he said slowly.
+
+"When the vessel was two weeks overdue I was more anxious than I cared
+to admit, but now that the third week is nearly gone, I find myself
+unable to keep my mind upon the paper that I try to read, or for that
+matter upon anything else."
+
+"If any vessels intended coming in to-night, they would be obliged to
+get into some harbor where they would be safe until the sea is calm,"
+said Mrs. Seaford, "and that would make them a few days later, so
+we'll still hope to see the one we're looking for come sailing in with
+flying colors."
+
+Sprite, listening, while they thought that she was reading, now came
+around the table, and leaned against the Captain's sturdy shoulder.
+
+"Pa, I wish you wouldn't worry, for some way I'm sure she's coming in
+all safe, I'll tell you why. Now don't you laugh. I dreamed last night
+that she came sailing in with flags flying, and oh, her hull and her
+masts were of shining gold, so let's think that means good luck. Will
+you, Pa?" she coaxed, winding her little arms around his neck.
+
+She could not bear to see him so worried.
+
+"You're a comfort, little Sprite, and your Ma is another. Don't seem
+reasonable for a man to fret with two such blessings in his
+possession, but the truth is I wanted the luck that I believed the
+vessel would bring, for you two dear ones, far more than I wanted it
+for myself."
+
+"Then don't say you _wanted_ it, for that does not sound hopeful,"
+Mrs. Seaford said.
+
+"No, say you _want_ it for us, for that sounds as if it were coming,"
+Sprite said, "and I'm sure it will come, only it's delayed."
+
+He summoned up a smile for the child who was endeavoring to cheer
+him.
+
+"I surely can truthfully say, 'I want it for you'," he said.
+
+"I have ventured all that I had on that ship's cargo, because I
+believed it was sure to bring back a little fortune that would enable
+me to give greater comfort to your mother, Sprite, and you."
+
+"Well, it's coming! It's coming! I know it is. I saw the golden ship
+last night in my dreams, and I sprang up and looked from the window,
+and the moonlight was making a bright, glittering path on the waves,
+just where, in my dream, the ship had been."
+
+She had left the Captain's side to skip and dance about in her
+excitement, but now she came softly back to lean against him, as he
+sat in his big chair.
+
+She laid her cheek against his a second, then looking into his kindly
+eyes, she said:
+
+"It is stormy to-night, and it may storm to-morrow, but when it
+clears, I know, oh, I just _know_ the ship will come in."
+
+It was later than Sprite usually sat up, and the Captain pointed to
+the clock.
+
+"It's late even for a cheerful little prophet to be up," he said, and
+Sprite danced away to her tiny chamber, happy in the thought that she
+had really cheered them. The next day the storm continued, but at
+night the gale diminished, and on the following day the sun rose
+bright, and golden, giving promise of a fine day.
+
+Sprite ran out onto the beach.
+
+She looked far out across the dancing waves, to the horizon, where
+plainly she could see the sails of incoming vessels.
+
+Was either one of these distant vessels the one for which the Captain
+was so eagerly looking?
+
+"They all look alike 'way off there!" she murmured, but a moment later
+she whispered in disgust:
+
+"What a goosie I am! Those vessels have only one sail! They're neither
+of them ships. Who'd think I was a Captain's daughter?"
+
+Still she stood scanning the line where the sky and ocean met. At any
+moment a big ship might come in sight, and she thought how quickly she
+would run to tell the news. Then she hesitated.
+
+No, she would not hasten to tell it, for it might indeed be a ship,
+and yet not the one for which the Captain had long been looking, or it
+might be one that was not bound for Cliffmore, but instead would go
+farther out to sea.
+
+There was one sail on which the bright sunlight lingered, making it
+whiter than those of the other vessels, so that it was easier for her
+to watch that one than either of the others.
+
+"Why! It has turned about!" she cried, "and now, oh now, I see other
+masts and other sails! It's a ship! It's a ship! Oh, is it the one
+that Pa longs to see?"
+
+She would gladly have stood watching until that vessel sailed into
+Cliffmore, but a long, silvery note from the horn called her in to
+breakfast.
+
+Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks pink with excitement, and the
+Captain looking across the table, sighed as he thought of all that he
+had planned to do with the money that he had so confidently expected.
+He had built rosy air castles, had dreamed of comforts, and pleasures
+for the two dear ones who now sat opposite him at the table, the one
+full of hope, and cheer, the other trying to summon cheer that she
+did not feel, in order to comfort him. The forenoon passed swiftly,
+because the three were busy.
+
+Captain Seaford was making some repairs that the gale had made
+necessary. Indoors Mrs. Seaford had needed the help of little Sprite
+in some work that she was doing, and when the noon hour came they
+could hardly believe the clock.
+
+Sprite, usually eager to be out of doors, kept close at her mother's
+side, pulling bastings from the garments that she was making.
+
+Sometimes she paused to look from the window, then again she would
+busy herself with the bastings, and after a time, Mrs. Seaford,
+looking up, noticed with what rapt attention Sprite was gazing out at
+the ocean.
+
+"What is it, Sprite?" she asked. "Are you thinking of the dream vessel
+that you told us about last evening?"
+
+"I can't help thinking of it," Sprite answered, "and truly I do
+believe the dream meant good luck." "I'd not wish you to believe very
+strongly in dreams," Mrs. Seaford said, "but I'll confess that ever
+since you told us that dream, I've been thinking of it, and, in some
+way, it has given me hope."
+
+The afternoon was spent much as the forenoon had been, save that the
+bastings were all out of the new garments, and while Mrs. Seaford
+still plied her needle, Sprite picked up the book of fairy tales, and
+tried to read.
+
+There was one story that attracted her attention because its
+illustration showed a great ship, of ancient design. The name of the
+story was "The Gift Ship," and Sprite began to read. Riches formed its
+cargo, jewels studded its masts, and its figure head, representing a
+mermaid, was of solid gold.
+
+"Oh, that is grander than our ship was to be," thought Sprite, and she
+allowed the book to lie idly in her lap, while she looked out at the
+floating clouds, and wondered where the white-sailed ship had gone
+that, at early morning, had floated along that distant point where sky
+and water met.
+
+The captain looked in at the open door, and for a moment seemed to be
+studying the two who sat near the window. Then he spoke.
+
+"I'm going down to the wharf to see Jack Windom. He wants my opinion
+of a fishing smack he's thinking of buying. I'll not be gone long."
+
+He started off at a quick pace, but a few minutes later, Sprite saw,
+from her window, that the captain had met his friend when but halfway
+to the wharf.
+
+"Oh, Ma, Jack has come up halfway to meet Pa. I guess he was coming up
+to see if Pa had forgotten about going down to look at the new fishing
+smack.
+
+"Why, Ma, they're shaking hands. They never do that. Why, they are
+both coming back!"
+
+Mrs. Seaford knew that something more than usual had happened. She
+hurried to the door, just as the two men reached it, and then, the
+captain grasped both her hands, crying out in his excitement:
+
+"It has come in, dear! It has come in! The vessel that I've been
+looking for, longing for, worrying for is in safe and sound, and the
+cargo, if my friend Jack isn't wild, is even more valuable than I had
+dreamed!
+
+"Sprite! Sprite! Little girl, your dream has come true!"
+
+What a day of rejoicing it was!
+
+"The dream came true! The dream came true! The golden ship has come
+in!" cried Sprite, dancing about like a little wild thing, while Mrs.
+Seaford laid her slender hands on the captain's shoulders, her eyes
+filled with happy tears as she quietly said:
+
+"For your sake, dear, I am so glad."
+
+Jack Windom, hardy sailor, and bluff, kindly friend, was more moved
+than he cared to admit. He drew the back of his hand across his eyes,
+remarking that the sun was "tur'ble glarin'," but his friends knew
+that he was fully in sympathy with them, and that his honest eyes had
+filled with tears, as happy as their own, because of the good luck
+that had come to them.
+
+"I'm glad for ye, all three of ye, and I wish I could hev lent a hand
+ter hurried her in, but she's here now, and I'm as glad as you be that
+she's in safe an' sound. It's a great day fer ye, Cap'n, an' I'm glad,
+I declare I am."
+
+Captain Seaford again started for the wharf, this time to see not only
+the new fishing smack, but the vessel that had brought such great
+cheer to the little home, and with his arm locked in Jack Windom's he
+hurried down the beach.
+
+Mrs. Seaford and Sprite sat down to talk of their good fortune, and
+after a time little Sprite said:
+
+"I know I'm not to believe in signs or dreams, but truly I _did_ see
+the new moon over my right shoulder, and I _did_ dream of a golden
+ship."
+
+"So you did, dear," Mrs. Seaford said, "and you cheered me wonderfully
+last evening just by your telling of your lovely dream."
+
+"That's why I told it," Sprite said.
+
+"I thought while I was telling that, you'd not hear the gale, and by
+to-day the storm would have cleared away, and maybe the ship would
+come in, and it did."
+
+For a few moments the two sat thinking, then Sprite spoke again of the
+thoughts that filled her mind.
+
+"Yesterday I tried to read a story in my fairy book, called 'The Gift
+Ship,' but the ship's masts were studded with jewels, and its
+figurehead was of pure gold, and some way it seemed too grand, too
+fine, while Pa was longing for just a plain ship like the other ships
+that we see every day. I knew it was its cargo that he was anxious
+about, but the story seemed too good to be true, and I didn't care to
+read it.
+
+"Now, oh, now I can read it, and enjoy it, too, for no matter how
+grand the story ship is, Pa has seen the one that he has been looking
+for, and now we are happy."
+
+"Indeed we are," Mrs. Seaford said; "we are thankful, too, Sprite.
+Think how different would be our thoughts to-night if Jack Windom's
+news had been that the vessel that your father had been looking for
+had foundered!
+
+"We are thankful indeed, we are grateful, Sprite. Oh, we are blessed
+with the best news that could have been brought to us," said Mrs.
+Seaford.
+
+"I wish we could celebrate in some way when Pa comes back," Sprite
+said.
+
+"We shall have to be thinking of supper now. Suppose we go out
+together to set the table, and you shall help me to make it
+attractive.
+
+"Come! We'll use our prettiest dishes, and we'll set the rose-pink
+geranium in the center, and then we'll see what we can do toward
+providing a treat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+LITTLE PITCHERS
+
+
+The day spent at Aunt Judith's cottage had been delightful, and Harry
+and Leslie had been such fine playmates that Rose and Polly wished
+that they, too, were staying at Cliffmore.
+
+A few days had passed since the visit, and Princess Polly, still
+thinking of the day at Avondale, sat stringing shells on a long
+rose-colored cord.
+
+She was sitting on a low seat in the garden, her box of shells beside
+her. The shells were for Leslie, and Polly was selecting them with
+much care, that they might be of nearly the same size.
+
+The garden was charming with its fine wall, and the lovely flowers
+that blossomed within its enclosure.
+
+The house set well up on the beach, and its broad lawn and flower beds
+were surely safe from any encroachment by the sea, yet as a
+precaution, the massive wall had been built, and if by any chance a
+storm should drive the waves a bit too far, they would break against
+the wall, and then recede, leaving the garden unharmed.
+
+The string of shells was now nearly a half yard in length, and Polly
+held it up for the admiration of Rose and Sprite, who had just
+arrived, and were running along the path.
+
+"Oh, isn't it lovely?" said Rose, "and the colors, how nice they look,
+first bluish white and then cream white."
+
+"Leslie will like that," said Sprite.
+
+"Anyone would, they're strung so prettily."
+
+"I've ten more shells to add to the string and then it will be all
+ready for Leslie. Everybody keep still until I have the ten shells in
+place," said Princess Polly, "and then I'll talk with you."
+
+Rose and Sprite pretended to be making a great effort to keep still,
+but the task was evidently too much for them, and after a few seconds
+of silence, Rose laughed, Sprite echoed, and then Polly laughed
+because they did.
+
+"Oh, you two can't keep from talking," she said, "and neither can I,
+that is, not for very long, but I did keep still until I put the tenth
+shell on the string, and I'll put it in this little box. There, now
+I'll listen, for I know you've something to tell."
+
+The three little friends were now sitting on the long garden seat, the
+tall shrubs behind them making a cool shade.
+
+Mr. Sherwood had had the space inside the fine wall filled with rich
+loam, so that inside the garden gate was a genuine country garden,
+while outside the wall lay the sandy beach, and the surf, and spray.
+
+The flowers in the garden seemed to like the breezes from the sea, for
+their colors were glowing, and their perfume sweet.
+
+"There's such queer news this morning," Sprite said. "First, a sailor
+that Pa knows came up from the wharf, and he said a vessel got 'way
+out to sea, when they found a boy had hidden himself on board, a
+regular stowaway, and the first fishing smack they met, that was
+heading for Cliffmore, took him aboard and brought him back, and who
+do you think that was?"
+
+"Why, how could we ever guess?" Polly asked in surprise.
+
+"Well, that was John Selby, the grocer's boy. You know the store over
+at the Center," said Sprite, "and I guess you've seen the boy. He's
+'bout fourteen, and has red hair, and he's the one that helps deliver
+goods from his father's store."
+
+Yes, they remembered him.
+
+Good-tempered, happy-go-lucky John Selby. What could have tempted him
+to leave home, and become a stowaway? Sprite knew why he had done it.
+
+"He said he didn't want to be a grocer when he grew up," she said. "He
+said he loved the sea, and would rather be a sailor, so now his father
+says if he'll stay at home and help in the store until he's a bit
+older, he'll consent to his becoming a sailor, if he still thinks he'd
+like a sailor's life."
+
+The pronouns were a bit confused, but Rose and Polly understood.
+
+They hardly knew whether to be sorry for John or his father.
+
+"It seems hard for John to want to go and leave his father," Polly
+said, "and it's hard that John can't be a sailor boy if he wants to."
+
+"And you can't know which is the harder," said Sprite.
+
+"Well, I wouldn't think any boy would run away from home when he knew
+that his father and mother would grieve for him," Rose said.
+
+"I'd think any boy would if he wanted to!" said a sharp voice.
+
+It was Max Deland who had entered the garden, and now, with a defiant
+air, stood staring at the group of playmates, as if daring them to
+disagree with him.
+
+His cap was tilted at a saucy angle, his hands were thrust into his
+pockets, and his feet, wide apart, were firmly braced.
+
+He looked as if ready to quarrel with anyone who chanced to differ
+with him.
+
+"Do you mean to say, Max, that you'd do such a thing?" Sprite asked.
+
+"I don't say I would, and I don't say I wouldn't," Max said in a
+sullen voice.
+
+"Well, _would_ you?" Princess Polly asked, but Max looked
+disagreeable, and in a few moments had turned and left them, as
+abruptly as he had come.
+
+For a moment Polly, Rose and Sprite sat very still, each looking into
+the faces of the others.
+
+"What made him so cross?" Sprite asked, "and if he _did_ feel cross,
+and couldn't help it, then I should have thought he would have stayed
+away."
+
+"So should I," said Polly and Rose, and "so should I," echoed Sprite.
+
+Outside the garden wall eager ears were listening, and the ears
+belonged to a little figure that crouched close by the gateway, just
+out of sight of the three playmates, yet quite near enough to hear all
+that had been said.
+
+It was Gwen Harcourt.
+
+She had been a bit too saucy to Max Deland, had called him a "sissy,"
+and what boy would bear that? Max had returned the favor by calling
+her a "Tom-boy," and then he had made a horrid face, and raced off up
+the beach.
+
+Then Gwen was sorry. She liked to play with Max, and while he could
+run away, and laugh as he went, Gwen was ready to cry.
+
+He was quite as fond of Gwen as she was of him, but he was a great
+tease, and beside that, he liked to hear her calling to him to return.
+
+It flattered his vanity.
+
+"Come back, Max! Come _back_!" she had shouted.
+
+"Max dear, I take it back. You're not a sissy. Max! Oh, Max, I'm
+sorry!"
+
+Max heard, but he chose to keep right on, and at last he reached the
+Sherwood house, and pausing for breath near the gate, had overheard
+the three friends talking about the boy who had run away from his home
+at Cliffmore.
+
+A few moments later he had chosen to enter, especially because he was
+feeling rather cross with Gwen, and as Gwen was not at hand to quarrel
+with, he entered the garden to sneer at what his playmates were
+saying.
+
+Gwen had followed him, and the time that he had spent in the garden
+had given her the chance to catch up. Six little stone steps led down
+from the garden to the beach, and Max ran down, pushed the gate wide,
+and sprang out onto the hard white sand.
+
+Gwen crouched at his left, but he shaded his eyes with his hand, and
+looked to the right down the beach. She was pert and willful with all
+the others, but with Max she was humble indeed.
+
+"Max, here I am, and I'm sorry I teased you. Do be nice to me now,
+won't you? I won't ever call you 'sissy' again."
+
+"Guess you won't!" Max said, in anything but a pleasant tone. "I
+wouldn't let you say it if I was here, but I've 'bout decided to run
+away to sea!"
+
+"Oh, Max, Max! I don't want you to, and just think! What would your
+mother say?"
+
+Gwen meant it rightly, but it did not please Max.
+
+"There you go!" he cried. "That's the same as saying 'sissy' again. I
+guess I can go where I want to. A man can do as he likes without
+asking."
+
+Again Gwen blundered.
+
+"Oh, but Max, you're not a man. You're just a boy, and I wish you
+wouldn't talk as if you meant to go 'way off somewhere."
+
+Just a boy! That was aggravating. Max felt sure that in a moment more
+she would call him a _little_ boy, and that would indeed be too much
+for any boy to ever overlook.
+
+Gwen laid her hand on his arm, intending to coax him to stay, but Max
+was too angry to be easily pacified.
+
+"See here!" he cried, roughly brushing her hand from his arm. "You
+heard me say I'd _'bout_ decided to run away to sea, but you don't
+_know_ whether I will or not, so look out and not be a tell-tale, for
+if I do go, and ever come back, and find out you told, I'd never speak
+to you!"
+
+Before Gwen could get over her surprise, and grasp the meaning of what
+he had said, he was off at top speed down the beach.
+
+She started to follow, but he turned and shouted: "Don't you dare to
+tag on!"
+
+Poor Gwen! Max was the only playmate with whom she had ever been
+gentle. She had treated him far better than she had ever treated the
+girls at Avondale, or the new acquaintances at Cliffmore, and now he
+was going to run away, and she was not to ever mention it!
+
+She reached home very tired, and also very unhappy.
+
+At lunch she refused to eat, but that was not unusual. She often did
+that to attract the attention of the other boarders.
+
+As usual Mrs. Harcourt commenced to fuss, and to question her.
+
+"What is it, dear?" she asked.
+
+"Is there nothing that looks tempting?"
+
+Then glancing at those who sat opposite, she said: "Gwen's appetite is
+so very dainty and capricious, she rarely cares for what is served
+here."
+
+The guests were a bit tired of that speech, as they had heard it at
+every meal during the Summer.
+
+"You're too tired to eat, darling," Mrs. Harcourt said. "Did you play
+too hard with Max this morning?"
+
+At the mention of Max, Gwen burst into tears, and ran from the table,
+dropping her napkin on the floor, and walking upon it in her flight.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt was really alarmed. She wondered what Max had done to so
+upset Gwen. Perhaps he had struck her. He had a terrible disposition,
+while Gwen had the temperament of an angel. So thought Mrs. Harcourt
+as she left the dining room, her own lunch untasted, to follow Gwen,
+and coax from her the reason for her distress.
+
+The cause of any disturbance that led Gwen to shed tears was
+attributed to the outrageous temper of the other child, or children,
+as the case happened to be, and Mrs. Harcourt never dreamed that
+sometimes Gwen showed a temper that was rather far from angelic.
+
+Max was not at lunch, but that caused no surprise, because he often
+was absent at one o'clock, returning at six for dinner with an
+appetite that seemed more befitting a brawny tramp than a boy who was
+always well fed.
+
+On this day, however, he did not appear at dinner, and when seven, and
+eight, chimed forth from the hall clock, and still no Max in sight,
+Mrs. Deland was frightened.
+
+"Do keep up your courage, Mrs. Deland," said a man who happened to
+stand near her.
+
+"Your small boy will come prancing in before long, just as he always
+does. He usually remains out until you are nearly wild, and then he
+comes crawling in by the back door, and wonders why the chef isn't on
+hand to cook a separate dinner for him."
+
+It was the truth, but Mrs. Deland thought the speaker exceedingly
+hard-hearted. She had telephoned to everyone whom she thought might
+have seen Max, but all replied that he had not been noticed, and that
+proved that he had not been near them, for the boy was so saucy, so
+noisy, and so desperately active, that he must have been noticed if he
+was anywhere within sight.
+
+"Nine!" chimed the clock, and a few of the guests of the house
+organized a searching party, and started out to hunt for Max.
+
+They felt little interest in the matter, from the fact that the same
+thing had happened so many times that they seemed always to be
+searching for Max.
+
+The boy had made himself a nuisance in countless ways, and while
+neither member wished any harm to come to Max, they felt that it
+would be a great relief if he and his mother would leave Cliffmore,
+and never think of returning.
+
+Once outside the house, however, they made thorough work of their
+search, but although they looked in every place that a small boy might
+get into, and in many that seemed impossible, they did not find him.
+
+One man, tired and disgusted, grumbled as he tramped along, and
+several others who did not utter the thoughts that filled their minds,
+felt every bit as disgusted as he did.
+
+"It's nonsense, clear nonsense, tramping all over the place, hunting
+for a little run-away rascal, who, at this moment, is doubtless eating
+a comfortable meal, after having returned when he felt like it."
+
+When they reached the house, they were surprised to find that Max was
+not there.
+
+It was the first time that a party searching for the boy had returned
+to learn that he was still missing.
+
+Mrs. Deland had become quite used to having Max away sometimes all
+day, and often until after eight in the evening, and, as a rule, she
+was reasonably calm, but that nine o'clock should have passed without
+hearing from him seemed beyond belief.
+
+With the return of the searching party her courage gave way, and she
+sank onto a low seat, her cheeks white, and her hands tightly
+clenched.
+
+The women gathered about her, trying to comfort her, but she seemed
+not to hear what they said.
+
+How still she sat, her hands still tightly clasped, her eyes looking
+from one face to another.
+
+Then her eyes closed. She had fainted, and gently they carried her to
+her room, one woman promising to remain with her, after the doctor
+should have gone.
+
+Gwen had acted so strangely that Mrs. Harcourt had ordered a light
+lunch sent up to their room, saying that Gwen was too ill to go down
+to dinner, and that she would remain with her. No sound of the
+excitement reached them. It was in vain that she questioned Gwen. Gwen
+only replied that she and Max had quarreled, and that he had been
+"just perfectly horrid."
+
+When morning came, Gwen awoke feeling a bit better.
+
+Having remained in their room all the afternoon and evening, they had
+heard nothing of the search for Max, nor did they know that he had
+not, as usual, returned.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MAX A STOWAWAY
+
+
+Soon after breakfast, Gwen, looking for someone to play with, ran
+across the broad piazza to where, pale and weary, Mrs. Deland sat.
+
+"I want Max," cried Gwen, in her usual pert manner.
+
+"Where is he? When is he coming out?"
+
+Mrs. Deland uttered a low cry.
+
+"He's lost, little Gwen! Haven't you heard? They are searching
+everywhere for him, and they force me, his mother, to remain here, and
+wait with what patience I may."
+
+With a sudden impulse she threw her arms about Gwen, and held her
+close, then more gently lifted her face so that their eyes met.
+
+"You loved my little Max," she said. "Are you sorry that he is not yet
+found? Stop a moment; you played with him yesterday. When did you last
+see him? When were you two children last together?"
+
+"Oh, you're hurting me, holding me so tight. Let go, and I'll tell
+where I saw him," cried Gwen.
+
+"Why, child, I didn't dream I was really hurting you. Now tell me."
+
+"I saw him 'way over to Princess Polly's house," Gwen said slowly,
+"and we,--we, oh, we quarreled some, and Max didn't stay with me."
+
+"Well, where did he go when he left you?" Mrs. Deland asked eagerly.
+
+A crowd had gathered about the two, and stood listening.
+
+"He told me not to tell," said Gwen, shutting her lips firmly
+together.
+
+"What? You know where he is, and will not tell me, his own mother?
+Why, child, I am sick with worrying. Tell me, this moment!"
+
+Gwen made no reply.
+
+She loved Max, but she had never liked his mother, and that she should
+command her to tell made the little girl more stubborn than she had
+ever been before.
+
+"I wouldn't tell now even if Mrs. Deland and all those other women
+stuck pins into me," thought Gwen.
+
+It was in vain that they questioned her. Pleading, threatening,
+coaxing were equally unavailing, and when Mrs. Harcourt, seeing the
+group, came out upon the piazza, Gwen flew to her, saying that
+everyone was teasing her.
+
+"It is an outrage!" cried Mrs. Harcourt, her voice shrill with anger.
+
+"I wonder what you can be thinking of? A half dozen grown people
+tormenting one small girl."
+
+"My dear Mrs. Harcourt, you don't at all understand," said a tall,
+haughty-looking woman. "Your little daughter knows where the lost boy,
+Max Deland, is, and, although his mother is nearly wild with anxiety,
+she will not tell, that we may know where to find him."
+
+Mrs. Harcourt hesitated. Then she looked at Gwen's flushed cheeks and
+downcast eyes.
+
+"Do you know where Max is?" she asked.
+
+"No, I _don't_!" snapped Gwen.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt turned and faced them. She extended her hands.
+
+"There!" she cried. "You see, do you not, that it was idle to tease
+Gwen? She does not know where he is."
+
+"She certainly said that she knew where he went," said a stout lady.
+"I do know where he _went_!" shouted Gwen, "but how do I know where he
+is _now_?"
+
+"Where did he go?" questioned Mrs. Harcourt.
+
+"I promised him I wouldn't tell," said Gwen, "and I won't!"
+
+She wriggled from her mother's grasp, and racing across the piazza,
+fled up the stairway to her room.
+
+"Gwen is too honorable to break a promise," sighed Mrs. Harcourt, as
+she left the group of disgusted ladies, to follow her small girl to
+her apartment.
+
+"Too stubborn would be nearer the truth," muttered the stout lady.
+
+"That child should be made to tell," said another.
+
+"She shall be made to tell," Mrs. Deland said as she turned toward the
+small room that served as an office.
+
+Gwen, as stubborn as a little mule, refused to tell the proprietor of
+the house, when he called her into his office, and after talking for a
+half hour on the naughtiness of being stubborn, and the especial
+naughtiness of not telling where Max went, and thus helping the
+searchers to find him, she again flatly refused.
+
+If it had been true honor in being determined to keep her promise that
+made Gwen refuse, one could not but praise her courage, but her
+impulse was wholly selfish.
+
+Max had said that if he ever returned and found that she had told, he
+would never speak to her again.
+
+She valued Max's friendship above that of any of her playmates, and
+she refused to tell where he went, because he had insisted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was great rejoicing at "The Syren's Cave."
+
+The "coming in" of the ship that Captain Seaford had long been looking
+for proved to be even more fortunate than he had dreamed.
+
+Its cargo was indeed valuable, and as he obtained a much higher price
+for it than he had expected, his kindly heart was filled with
+gratefulness, and his eyes grew brighter, and he walked with a lighter
+step.
+
+Mrs. Seaford went about the little house, singing at her work, and
+Sprite, happy, laughing Sprite, danced upon the beach, played in the
+surf, or rocked in her boat, singing, always singing of the water
+sprites, the mermen and mermaids of whom she never tired of hearing.
+
+Princess Polly and Rose were both delighted when they heard of the
+Seafords' good fortune, but of the disappearance of Max they had not
+heard, because they had been away on a little ocean trip.
+
+It happened, on the day that Max decided to run away, that no steamer
+lay at the wharf, nor was there so much as a ship in sight.
+
+There was, however, a coal barge, and Max, determined to go on that
+very day, watched his chance, and at the first opportunity slipped
+aboard, where in frantic haste he looked for a hiding place.
+
+Steps approaching set him into panic, and an empty barrel standing in
+a shadowy corner of the little cabin seemed his only refuge.
+
+"There's only a few er these ol' pertaters, so I'll chuck 'em inter
+this barrel in the cabin," shouted a gruff voice, and in they went
+onto Max's head and shoulders. Not a sound did he make, although the
+potatoes felt decidedly hard, and evidently had been thrown in with
+none too gentle a hand.
+
+It seemed to the boy in his cramped position as if the coal barge
+would never start.
+
+At twilight, however, he felt the motion, and knew that he was sailing
+away from Cliffmore, the empty barge to return with another load of
+coal, but he, Max Deland, to keep straight on in search of a land
+where a fellow didn't have to mind his mother, but could seek and
+easily find a fortune, and then return sufficiently independent to
+have his own way.
+
+It happened that Max had been seen sneaking aboard the vessel, and a
+bit later jumping into the empty barrel to hide, and the sailors had
+first thought of putting him ashore with a sharp warning to keep away
+from the barge in the future.
+
+Then it occurred to them that a better lesson could be given him by
+letting him remain on board for a few days, and then placing him
+aboard of the first fishing smack that they met, bound for Cliffmore.
+
+The potatoes had not been carelessly thrown in upon him. It had been
+done intentionally, to act as a part of his punishment.
+
+Long before anyone on board was asleep, Max was wishing that he had
+never thought of running away.
+
+He thought of the fine dinner that had been served at Cliffmore hours
+before, and here was he, Max Deland, in an old and dirty barrel that
+vegetables had been stored in, very hungry, and with no way of
+obtaining anything to eat.
+
+After a time, his cramped position became unbearable, and slowly but
+surely he crept out of the barrel, and upon the cabin floor, where,
+because he was so weary, he fell into sound sleep.
+
+At daylight a group of sailors were looking down at the sleeping boy.
+
+The captain of the barge spoke.
+
+"Good-looking little chap, but he must learn not to try this trick
+again. Let him lie there until he wakes. Then give him some breakfast,
+hard tack and water, remember, and then give him the task I set for
+him. When the first fishing smack, bound for Eastville appears, start
+him for home."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!" was the prompt reply, and the boy stirred as if he
+had heard it.
+
+"Come now! Step lively!" cried the mate. "No loitering on shipboard."
+
+Max, hardly awake, barely grasped the meaning of the words, and
+scrambled to his feet.
+
+"Now, then, forward march if you want something to eat."
+
+Max marched. He dared not refuse, but he did rebel when he saw what
+was offered for his breakfast.
+
+"I can't eat that!" he said angrily.
+
+"All right! Forward, march! We'll let ye work on an empty stomach if
+ye really hanker to."
+
+All sorts of tasks were set for him, and for the next few days he was
+kept exceedingly busy.
+
+He learned to do as he was told, and to do it promptly; to eat what
+was given him without grumbling, and there was something else that he
+learned by his hard experience. He learned what a fortunate boy he had
+always been; to appreciate all the good things that had always been so
+freely given him, and above all these, he longed for his mother's
+love.
+
+He thought what a good boy he'd be if ever he reached the shore, and
+he resolved never to run away, whatever happened that displeased him.
+
+A happy boy was Max when a passing smack stopped long enough so that
+he could be taken on board, and then headed straight for Cliffmore.
+
+Max thought nothing had ever looked so beautiful as the cliffs from
+which Cliffmore took its name, when in the early morning they sailed
+into the bay, and saw the warm sunlight kissing land and sea.
+
+Ah, he would never run away again, for now he knew the value of home
+and love.
+
+He ran all the way from the wharf, and up the beach and climbed the
+great ledge on which sat the house where with his mother he had been
+staying. He rushed up the steps to the piazza, wildly crying:
+
+"Where are you? Where is everybody? I've come home! I've come home!"
+
+They came at once, and from every direction, like ants from an ant
+hill, and swarmed around him, asking more questions than he could
+answer.
+
+A tall, handsome woman rushed across the piazza, her eyes bright with
+hope.
+
+"Stand aside!" she cried. "It is Max! My little Max! I know his voice!
+Oh, let me reach him!"
+
+The crowd parted, and the boy was instantly clasped in his mother's
+arms.
+
+"My own! My darling!" she sobbed.
+
+"I won't ever run away again!" he responded, his arms about her neck.
+
+"Come!" said one of the crowd that had gathered. "Let them be alone
+together for a while," and as with one accord the group melted, the
+guests going far from the two who, for the time being, needed no other
+company than each other.
+
+Of course, a bit later Max told his story to eager listeners, and when
+he had finished the little tale, he said: "And you folks ought to know
+that Gwen was a regular brick, to keep the secret I told her not to
+let out. Any girl but Gwen would have told it first thing, but Gwen
+is a brick. Don't all of you think so?"
+
+A gentleman on the outskirts of the little crowd proposed cheers.
+
+"Three cheers for Max and his brick!" he shouted, and they gave them
+with a will.
+
+On the same morning that the little fishing smack brought Max home to
+Cliffmore, the beautiful steam yacht, _Dolphin_, sailed into the bay,
+with its owner, Captain John Atherton, and his beautiful bride
+standing together on the deck, and returning the salutes of the host
+of friends who awaited them on the wharf.
+
+Handkerchiefs were waved by the ladies, hats were swung by the men,
+and foremost in the waiting crowd stood little Rose Atherton, a basket
+of roses to offer them, and the housekeeper close beside her, lest in
+her excitement she might actually be swept off the pier.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad, so glad!" cried Rose. "Dear Uncle John, and
+dear----" she paused.
+
+What should she call this lovely young woman?
+
+Iris laughed.
+
+"You must learn to call me 'Aunt Iris,'" she said, stooping to kiss
+the little blushing face.
+
+"I'll love to," Rose said, "and I won't have to learn, same's I won't
+have to learn to love you, for I love you now, you are so sweet, so
+lovely."
+
+"Oh, John, was there ever a sweeter welcome? I am so happy."
+
+At the reception a week later, Rose stood beside the dear, new aunt,
+and felt very proud and happy "helping to receive."
+
+Princess Polly and Sprite were delighted that Rose was now to be so
+happy.
+
+"Of course it is dearest to have one's own mamma," Polly said, "but
+Rose had neither papa nor mamma, so lovely Mrs. Iris is next best, and
+I do truly think she is dear."
+
+"So do I," agreed Sprite, "and of course if Rose was happy with her
+Uncle John she'll be just so much happier with her new aunt, but who
+told you to call her 'Mrs. Iris'?"
+
+"No one," said Polly, "but for that minute I couldn't think of
+Atherton, and I couldn't call her Mrs. Captain John. Of course she is
+Mrs. Atherton now."
+
+"Oh, yes," agreed Sprite, "and my mamma says she's almost an angel.
+She did truly say that this morning, and Pa said:
+
+"That's just what she is, and Captain John Atherton is a lucky man and
+I'm glad for him."
+
+Already, plans were being made for the return to Avondale, and Rose,
+Princess Polly and Sprite were looking forward to the opening of
+school when, with Harry and Leslie, Lena and Rob, Vivian, and all the
+other playmates, they would be having the pleasant school days, and
+the good times that were always enjoyed at Avondale.
+
+Gyp was to be "indoor man" on Captain Atherton's place, and study in
+evening classes, taking a business course that would fit him for a
+better position that the captain assured him should surely be his, if
+he excelled in his class work.
+
+Sprite was indeed to be happy. The year before she had spent at the
+Avondale school, making her home with Princess Polly and Rose. She
+had been happy with them, but of course, at times, she was somewhat
+homesick.
+
+This year would be so different. Captain Seaford's good fortune
+enabled him to rent a small apartment for the Winter at Avondale, and
+there Sprite could enjoy her school, and merry playmates, and yet be
+with her parents.
+
+Gwen Harcourt was telling all whom she met at Cliffmore that she was
+very tired of living at Avondale, and that she did not think she
+should live there much longer. She said that if she fussed enough
+about it, her mamma would take her somewhere else. All who knew Gwen
+felt reasonably sure that she would "fuss."
+
+Rose knew that her home at Avondale would now be perfect. Uncle John
+would love her as he always had loved her, and of her new aunt she
+was already very fond.
+
+Surely it promised to be a bright and happy Winter for Princess Polly
+and her friends, the merry playmates at Avondale, where good times and
+gay spirits prevailed and kind and happy hearts worked with equal zeal
+at study and at merry-making.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Girl Scouts Series
+
+BY EDITH LAVELL
+
+
+A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by an author of wide
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+Philadelphia.
+
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+
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+
+
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+THE GIRL SCOUTS' VACATION ADVENTURES
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+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the Publishers
+
+A.L. BURT COMPANY
+114-120 EAST 23rd STREET    NEW YORK
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+
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+
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+the Road That Leads the Way.
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+For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the Publishers
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+114-120 EAST 23rd STREET    NEW YORK
+
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+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Marjorie Dean
+
+High School
+
+Series
+
+BY PAULINE LESTER
+
+Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean College Series
+
+These are clean, wholesome stories that will be of great interest to
+all girls of high school age.
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+MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN
+MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE
+MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR
+MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the Publishers
+
+A.L. BURT COMPANY
+114-120 EAST 23rd STREET    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Marjorie Dean College Series
+
+BY PAULINE LESTER.
+
+Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean High School Series.
+
+Those who have read the Marjorie Dean High School Series will be eager
+to read this new series, as Marjorie Dean continues to be the heroine
+in these stories.
+
+All Clothbound. Copyright Titles.
+
+PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH.
+
+MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE FRESHMAN
+MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SOPHOMORE
+MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE JUNIOR
+MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SENIOR
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the Publishers.
+
+A.L. BURT COMPANY
+114-120 East 23rd Street,  New York
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page 156: 'left he house' replaced with 'left the house'  |
+    | Page 214: 'left he dining room' replaced with             |
+    |           'left the dining room'                          |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Princess Polly At Play, by Amy Brooks
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