I'm going to stay!"

Of course Sprite had come to meet them, and as the three walked up the
pier they saw that Gwen made no attempt to follow.

She wished them to know that she was at Cliffmore, but having enjoyed
their look of surprise, she preferred to keep her position on the
post.

It was so conspicuous that she knew that everyone coming up from the
boats would surely see her, and beside that pleasure, she could stare
at all the arrivals. Oh yes, her perch on the post delighted her.

Not satisfied with staring at the people, she commenced to make
remarks about them as they passed. As her remarks were largely
directed at their clothes, they were not much pleased.

"Oh, what big feet!" she said, when a big woman passed her, and to
another she said: "What a funny hat."

A fat man turned to frown at her when she said: "My! He must weigh a
ton," and a girl with long red braids blushed hotly when Gwen cried:

"Red! Red! Fire! Fire!"

Her mother would have thought any other child uncouth and ill-bred,
if she did any one of the many outrageous things that Gwen was always
doing. In Gwen she thought it bright and smart, and Gwen held the same
opinion, but a young sailor, happening along just in time to hear her
say something about a Jack Tar, that was not quite pleasing, stopped
for an instant, and looked into her bold, blue eyes.

"Do you know what you need, you little Monkey?" he cried. "You need to
have someone give you a big ducking, and then you'd learn not to be so
smart."

Gwen was too frightened to speak. She thought the sailor meant to give
her the ducking that he said she needed, and she turned so pale that
he let go his hold upon her, leaving her still sitting upon the post,
but as he turned to go he shook his finger at her.

"Not another word, sissy, or someone'll duck you, if I don't," he
said.

A long time she sat motionless upon the post until not only the
sailor, but all of the people had left the pier. Then, looking
cautiously around to learn if anyone was near, she slipped to the
ground, and ran at top speed toward the hotel where she told a most
remarkable tale of the sailor's rudeness to her, winding up by telling
that he had been so mean as to duck her.

"My dear little Gwen!" said her fond mamma.

"Her serge frock seems rather dry for one that has just been plunged
into the water," said a lady who sat near them on the piazza.

"Oh, look at her shoes! They're dry too!" cried a small boy