"

These and similar remarks were to be heard on all sides.

Gwen had been pert and saucy, bold, and annoying in many ways, but
that a little girl could be the person who had boldly entered any
house, or any room at the hotel, poking her impudent little nose into
any house or room that remained unlocked, was really a surprise.

They had all believed it to be the work of a man, but no one could
understand what prompted him to handle every article in the place that
he entered, yet never steal a thing. Now it was easier to understand.
Gwen had everything that love could think of, or that wealth could
provide, but her curiosity was great, and she could not keep her
mischievous hands off from things belonging to others.

Mrs. Harcourt, angry over what she thought was "outrageous rudeness,"
packed her trunks, and in an hour's time, left the hotel.

CHAPTER III

LITTLE SEA NYMPHS

Polly and Rose were walking along the beach on the way to call for
Sprite. They had not decided how to spend the morning, but whatever
they chose to do, they surely would enjoy themselves, for never were
three playmates happier in each other's company.

"A long time ago when you first came to Avondale to live at Sherwood
Hall, we named you Princess Polly. We never seemed to think of you as
Polly Sherwood, your truly name," Rose said.

"And I liked you the first day I met you by the brook," Polly said,
"and I thought Rose Atherton was such a pretty name."

"Sprite's name just fits her," said Rose, a moment later, "for she
looks like a sprite, or a sea nymph, and so Sprite Seaford seems just
the name for her.

"There she is now, coming toward us. Let's run to meet her."

"I took the telescope, and looked up the beach," Sprite said, when
they met, "and kept looking until I saw you. Then I put it back on the
mantel, and ran to meet you. Now come over to the place I call the
bay."

She led the way, and they followed. The bay, as Sprite called it was a
place where a ledge projected into the water in such a way that the
incoming waves rushed past it, sweeping up onto the sand in a curving
line.

It was not much of a bay, but it served as a name, and they always
knew what she meant when she spoke of it.

Its shallow water was fine to play in, and when the tide went out,
there always remained a little pool that reflected floating clouds.

On its clear surface they skipped flat stones, and they marvelled to
see how skillful was lit