of the White Mountain trains. There was no use
to write any letters, as there was no way to send them. Elizabeth
Eliza now almost hoped the Sylvesters would not come, for what should
she do if the trunks did not come and all her new dresses? On her way
over to the beach she had been thinking what she should do with her
new foulard and cream-colored surah if the Sylvesters did not come,
and if their time was spent in only driving to the beach and back.
But now, she would prefer that the Sylvesters would not come till the
dresses and the trunks did. All she could find out, from inquiry, on
returning, was, "that another lot was expected on Saturday." The next
day she suggested:--

"Suppose we take our dinner with us to the beach, and spend the day."
The Sylvesters and Ann Maria then would find them on the beach, where
her travelling-dress would be quite appropriate. "I am a little
tired," she added, "of going back and forward over the same road; but
when the rest come we can vary it."

The plan was agreed to, but Mr. Peterkin and the little boys remained
to go over the farm again.

They had an excellent picnic on the beach, under the shadow of a ledge
of sand. They were just putting up their things when they saw a party
of people approaching from the other end of the beach.

"I am glad to see some pleasant-looking people at last," said
Elizabeth Eliza, and they all turned to walk toward them.

As the other party drew near she recognized Ann Maria Bromwick! And
with her were the Sylvesters,--so they proved to be, for she had never
seen them before.

"What! you have come in our absence!" exclaimed Elizabeth Eliza.

"And we have been wondering what had become of you!" cried Ann Maria.

"I thought you would be at the farm before us," said Elizabeth Eliza
to Mr. Sylvester, to whom she was introduced.

"We have been looking for you at the farm," he was saying to her.

"But we are at the farm," said Elizabeth Eliza.

"And so are we!" said Ann Maria.

"We have been there two days," said Mrs. Peterkin.

"And so have we, at the 'Old Farm,' just at the end of the beach,"
said Ann Maria.

"Our farm is old enough," said Solomon John.

"Whereabouts are you?" asked Mr. Sylvester.

Elizabeth Eliza pointed to the road they had come.

A smile came over Mr. Sylvester's face; he knew the country well.

"You mean the farm-house behind the hill, at the end of the road?" he
asked.

The Peterkins all nodded affirmatively.