t to the cave at last. Yet nothing met her eyes but more rocks, and
surf, and fissures brown with rust and barnacles. At last, she came on
a group of children, playing in the sand, and stopped to ask the way
of them.

There were two thin, brown little girls in pink-and-gray gingham
frocks, and pink-and-gray striped stockings appearing over the tops of
high, laced boots. They were exactly the same size, and made Eyebright
think of grasshoppers, they were so wiry and active, and sprang about
so nimbly. Then there were three rosy, hearty-looking country
children, and a pair of little boys, with sharp, delicately cut faces,
who seemed to be brothers, for they looked like each other and quite
unlike the rest. All seven were digging holes in the sand with sticks
and shovels, and were as much absorbed in their work as a party of
diligent beavers. When Eyebright appeared, with Genevieve in her arms,
they stopped digging and looked at her curiously.

"Do you know how far the Oven is from here?" asked Eyebright.

"No," and "What's the Oven?" answered the children, and one of the
gray-and-pink little girls added: "My, what a big doll!" Eyebright
scarcely heeded these answers, she was so delighted to see some
children after her long fast from childhood.

"What are you making?" she asked.

"A fort," replied one of the boys.

"Now, Fweddy, you said you'd call it a castle," put in one of the
girls.

"Well, castles are just the same things as forts. My mother said so."

"Is that your mother sitting there?" asked Eyebright catching a
glimpse of a woman and a baby under a tree not far off.

"Oh, dear, no! That's Mrs. Waurigan. She's Jenny's mother, you know,
and 'Mandy's and Peter Paul Rubens's. She's not our mother at all. My
mother's name is Mrs. Brown, and my papa is Dr. Azariah P. Brown. We
live in New York city. Did you ever see New York city?"

[Illustration: When Eyebright appeared with Genevieve in her arms,
they stopped digging and looked at her curiously.--PAGE 172.]

"No, never. I wish I had," said Eyebright.

"It's a real nice place," went on the pink-and-gray midge. "You'd
better make haste and come and see it quick, 'cause it's de-te-rotting
every day; my papa said so. Don't you think Dr. Azariah P. Brown is a
beau-tiful name? I do. When I'm mallied and have a little boy, I'm
going to name him Dr. Azariah P. Brown, because it's the beautifulest
name in the world."

"She's 'gaged already," said the other litt