called "The Early Dip Club," in which all four of Mrs. Gray's young
people were included. Punctually at a quarter before seven on every fair
morning the omnibus rattled up the Avenue; and the "Club" set out, under
the care of an old experienced maid of Mrs. Joy's, who had nursed Berry,
and could be trusted to see that none of the young ladies did anything
very imprudent,--such as staying too long in the water or standing about
in their wet bathing-dresses. At that early hour there were no loungers
to stare at the party. The beach, cleanly swept by the tide of the night
before, had scarcely a footprint to mar its smooth, firm sands. There
was something delightful in the perfect freshness of the hour and place.
Some of the girls had taken lessons in the "School of Natation" in the
lower bay, and could swim very well. Candace could not swim, and made no
attempt to learn; but she soon acquired the art of floating, under the
tuition of Alice Frewen, who, next to Marian and herself, was the
youngest of the party, and to whom she had taken a great fancy. The
three "children," as Berenice Joy called them, made common cause, and
generally kept together, a little apart from the others, holding each
other's hands and splashing up and down in the rollers with great
enjoyment.

Bathing over, the "Early Dippers" returned home in their omnibus about
the time that other people were waking up, bringing with them such
cheeks and such appetites as were a satisfaction to their families, and
did great credit to the powers of the Newport surf.

So the days sped on. It was full summer-tide now; yet the weather never
seemed hot, except perhaps for an hour or two at a time. Morning after
morning the sun would rise in a blaze of yellow, which anywhere else
would have betokened a scorching day; and just as people had begun to
say, "What a sultry morning!" lo, in one moment the wind would set in
from the sea, strong, salty, fresh, invigorating; and, behold, it was
cool! Or if the afternoon seemed for a little while oppressive in the
streets of the old town, it was only necessary to go down to the end of
the Avenue to find a temperature cool enough to be called chilly. Nobody
ever thought of driving without a shawl, and the shawl was almost always
needed. Mrs. Gray was wont to say that Newport had three different
climates,--a warm one and a cold one and an in-between one,--and it had
them all three every day, and people could take their choice, whi