mie"! "Why don't you call your kind friend father,
since you call old McMurtagh grandpa?"

The child shook her head. "He has never asked me to," she said.
"Besides, he is not my father. My father wore gold trimmings and a
sword."

This sounded more like De Soto than Silva.

"Do you remember him?"

"Not much, sir."

"What was his name?"

The child shook her head again. "I do not know, sir. He only called me
Mercedes."

Mr. Bowdoin was fain to rummage in his pocket, either for a
handkerchief or for a lump of Salem "Gibraltars:" both came out
together in a state of happy union. Mercedes took hers simply. Only
Miss Dolly was too proud to eat candy in the carriage. The Salem
Gibraltar is a hard and mouth-filling dainty; and by its
administration little Ann and Jane, who had been chattering in front,
were suddenly reduced to silence.

By this time they had come through to the outer cliff, and were
driving on a turf road high above the sea. The old gentleman was
watching the breakers far below, and Mercedes had a chance to look
about her at the houses. They passed by a great hotel, and she saw
many gayly dressed people on the piazza; she hoped they were going to
stop there, but they drove on to a smallish house upon the very
farthest point. It was not a pretentious place; but Mercedes was
pleased with a fine stone terrace that was built into the very last
reef of the sea, and with the pretty little lawn and the flowers.

As the children rushed into the hall, Ann and Jane struggling to keep
on Mr. Bowdoin's shoulders, they were stopped by a maid, who told them
Mrs. Bowdoin was taking a nap and must not be disturbed. So they were
carried through to the back veranda, where Mr. Bowdoin dumped the
little girls over the railing upon a steep grass slope, down which
they rolled with shrieks of laughter that must have been most damaging
to Mrs. Bowdoin's nerves. Dolly and Mercedes followed after; and the
old gentleman settled himself on a roomy cane chair, his feet on the
rail of the back piazza, a huge spy-glass at his side, and the "Boston
Daily Advertiser" in his hand.

At the foot of the lawn was the cliff; and below, a lovely little
pebble beach covered with the most wonderful shells. Never were such
shells as abounded upon that beach!--tropical, exotic varieties, such
as were found nowhere else. And then--most ideal place of all for a
child--there was a fascinating rocky island in the sea, connected by a
neck of tw