kfast. Zoe and
Betty drove down to the wharf with them to see them off, and watched the
departing vessel till she disappeared from sight.

Zoe went home in tears, Betty doing her best to console her.

"Come, now, be a brave little woman; it's for only two or three days at
the farthest. Why, I'd never get married if I thought I shouldn't be
able to live so long without the fortunate man I bestowed my hand upon."

"Oh, you don't know anything about it, Betty!" sobbed Zoe. "Ned's all I
have in the world, and it's so lonesome without him! And then, how do I
know that he'll ever get back? A storm may come up and the vessel be
wrecked."

"That's just possible," said Betty, "and it's great folly to make
ourselves miserable over bare possibilities--things which may never
happen."

"Oh, you are a great deal too wise for me!" said Zoe, in disgust.

"Oh," cried Betty, "if it's a pleasure and comfort to you to be
miserable--to make yourself so by anticipating the worst--do so by all
means. I have heard of people who are never happy but when they are
miserable."

"But I am not one of that sort," said Zoe, in an aggrieved tone. "I am
as happy as a lark when Ned is with me. Yes, and I'll show you that I
can be cheerful even without him."

She accordingly wiped her eyes, put on a smile, and began talking in a
sprightly way about the beauty of the sea as they looked upon it, with
its waves dancing and sparkling in the brilliant light of the morning
sun.

"What shall we do to-day?" queried Betty.

"Take a drive," said Zoe.

"Yes; I wish there was some new route or new place to go to."

"There's a pretty drive to the South Shore, that maybe you have not
tried yet," suggested the hackman.

"South Shore? That's another name for Surfside, isn't it?" asked Betty.

"It's another part of the same side of the island I refer to," he
answered. "It's a nice drive through the avenue of pines--a road the
lovers are fond of--and if the south wind blows, as it does this
morning, you have a fine surf to look at when you get there."

"If a drive is talked of to-day, let us propose this one, Zoe," said
Betty.

"Yes; I dare say it is as pleasant as any we could take," assented Zoe.
"I wish Edward was here to go with us."

Elsie, with her usual thoughtfulness for others, had been considering
what could be done to prevent Zoe from feeling lonely in Edward's
absence. She saw the hack draw up at the door, and meeting the young
girls on t