f Stan's Gaiety Girl photographs, in a short,
low-necked dress of bright poppy colour, with silk legs as shiny as an
Archdeacon's, only with quite a different effect.

"Come on, my green Undine," said she; and I came, because she pulled me
so suddenly that otherwise I should have fallen flat on my nose.

Having seen her dressed so much in my style, it wasn't quite as bad as
before; and when I was out of my box,--like one of those little
barometer women that tell fair weather,--there was Mrs. Pitchley in
crimson, and Carolyn Pitchley in white, and lots of pretty women, all
with the same lovely stockings. There hadn't been any standing about
when we arrived, because we were early, not having gone to the Casino
first as the others had, and it was a relief to find them; or it was,
until I had a great shock.

Instead of the men being away at a separate beach of their own, they
were put with us, and kept popping out of boxes every minute, and
running up to talk to the girls they knew, just as calmly as if they
were in evening dress. My eyes almost came out of my head for an
instant. Then I just swallowed hard, and leaped over about five
centuries of prejudice as if I were jumping across a tiny beck.

"Everything's a matter of custom," said I to myself; and in another
minute I was racing gaily down to the water, hand in hand with Sally,
as if we had been little girls with sand pails and shovels.

I expected to feel as if I had plunged into a million-gallon bath of
iced water, when I got out among the creamy breakers; but judging from
the sensation, Americans have had their part of the Atlantic
beautifully warmed from underneath, with some patent heating apparatus.
It would be just like them!

The sandy beach is so level, you can patter out ever so far, until you
finally have to bob up and down for the rolling waves, as if they were
Royalties--and so they are, for the Kingdom of Mer. I can swim a
little, and Potter took me beyond the breakers. It was great fun, under
that arch of turquoise sky, with the sun dancing on the clear green
water, as if the millionaires of Newport had been sprinkling gold
pieces. But the best of all was the floating platform, about a hundred
yards from the beach, where we sat and let the emeralds and pearls that
the Princesses of Mer threw, spray over us.

At home, when you are at the sea, your governess or some other person
who thinks enjoyment ought to be measured off by rule, sits on the
sh