don't come to-day, either Mollie or I will go down to the
station and see about them," offered Betty, who was looking as sweet and
fresh as the morning itself. "We'll probably have to go down and get
them anyway, since we expressed them through by train and came by motor
ourselves."

"Oh, well, who cares," cried Mollie, stretching her arms above her head
and breathing deep of the salt-laden air. "When we get down on that
wonderful beach, that looks too good to be true, we'll be away from all
the rest of the world and we won't need any clothes but a bathing suit."

"Mother's up," cried Grace, as they stepped out into the hall and
smelled the welcome aroma of coffee. "I thought I heard somebody go
downstairs a little while ago."

"But we shouldn't have let her get the breakfast," cried Betty. "We
brought her up here for a rest, not to wait on us."

"She probably didn't sleep very well," said Grace, thinking of Will. "It
really isn't any wonder."

However, Mrs. Ford greeted the girls with a bright smile when they
entered the kitchen, and when they remonstrated with her for getting up
so early she merely laughed at them.

"Why, I haven't cooked for so long, it's just fun for me," she said
lightly, but Grace's loving eyes saw how pale she looked and how sad her
eyes were when she was not smiling.

"Game little mother," she whispered to herself.

However, after they had cleared the remains of a remarkably good
breakfast away, they asked Mrs. Ford to put on her own bathing suit and
take a dip with them.

After a minute's hesitation she agreed, and they ran upstairs eagerly to
get ready. They all had black suits, and all but Grace wore snug-fitting
rubber caps, designed more for use than looks. Grace wore a rakish
little Scottish cap affair that was immensely becoming but not at all
comfortable to swim in.

"How do I look?" she demanded complacently, when she turned from a
prolonged survey of herself in the mirror and pirouetted slowly before
them.

"Beautiful, but foolish," Mollie commented succinctly.

"Do you really expect to swim in it, dear?" asked Amy mildly.

"The effect would be altogether stunning," suggested Betty judicially,
her head on one side, "if you cocked it just a little further over one
eye so as to obscure the sight completely."

There was a ripple of laughter.

"Oh, you're all jealous," remarked Grace, not at all disturbed as she
turned back to the mirror once more to pull a curl a little