p the beach at her call.

"Did you find it hard to tear yourself away from the hermit-crabs,
Ragsie?" she laughed. "You must have gobbled down more than a hundred.
It's high time you left off!"

She started to race along the deserted beach, the dog leaping ahead of
her and yapping ecstatically. Twice she stopped to pick up some
driftwood.

"We'll need it to get supper, Rags," she informed the dog. "Our stock is
getting low."

He cocked one ear at her intelligently.

They came presently to a couple of summer bungalows set side by side
about two hundred feet from the ocean edge. They were long and low, each
with a wide veranda stretching across the front. There were no other
houses near, the next bungalow beyond being about half a mile away.

With a sigh of relief, Leslie deposited the driftwood in one corner of
the veranda of the nearest bungalow. Then she dropped into one of the
willow rockers to rest, the dog panting at her feet. Presently the screen
door opened and a lady stepped out.

"Oh! are you here, Leslie? I thought I heard a sound, and then it was so
quiet that I came out to see what it meant. Every little noise seems to
startle me this afternoon."

"I'm so sorry, Aunt Marcia! I should have called to you," said Leslie,
starting up contritely to help her aunt to a seat. "I hope you had a good
nap and feel rested, but sometimes I think it would do you more good if
you'd come out with me and sit by the ocean than try to lie down in your
room. It was simply glorious to-day."

Miss Marcia Crane shook her head. "I know what is best for me, Leslie
dear. You don't always understand. But I believe this place _is_ doing me
a great deal of good. I confess, I thought Dr. Crawford insane when he
suggested it, and I came here with the greatest reluctance. For a nervous
invalid like myself to go and hide away in such a forsaken spot as this
is in October, just you and I, seemed to me the wildest piece of folly.
But I must say it appears to be working out all right, and I am certainly
feeling better already."

"But why _shouldn't_ it have been all right?" argued Leslie. "I was
always sure it would be. The doctor said this beach was noted for its
wonderfully restful effect, especially after the summer crowds had left
it, and that it was far better than a sanatorium. And as for your being
alone with me--why I'm sixteen and a quite competent housekeeper, as
Mother says. And you don't need a trained nurse, so I can do