mpuashuh. I beg your pardon, Lois, but it is a corner of the earth.
What makes you happy?"

Lois answered lightly, that perhaps it was easier to be happy in a
corner than in a wide place; and went off again. She would not give
Mrs. Wishart an answer she could by no possibility understand.

Some time later in the day, Mrs. Wishart too, becoming tired of the
monotony of her own room, descended to the piazza; and was sitting
there when the little steamboat arrived with some new guests for the
hotel. She watched one particular party approaching. A young lady in
advance, attended by a gentleman; then another pair following, an older
lady, leaning on the arm of a cavalier whom Mrs. Wishart recognized
first of them all. She smiled to herself.

"Mrs. Wishart!" Julia Caruthers exclaimed, as she came upon the
verandah. "You _are_ here. That is delightful! Mamma, here is Mrs.
Wishart. But whatever did bring you here? I am reminded of Captain
Cook's voyages, that I used to read when I was a child, and I fancy I
have come to one of his savage islands; only I don't see the salvages.
They will appear, perhaps. But I don't see anything else; cocoanut
trees, or palms, or bananas, the tale of which used to make my mouth
water. There are no trees here at all, that I can see, nor anything
else. What brought you here, Mrs. Wishart? May I present Mr.
Lenox?--What brought you here, Mrs. Wishart?"

"What brought _you_ here?" was the smiling retort. The answer was
prompt.

"Tom."

Mrs. Wishart looked at Tom, who came up and paid his respects in marked
form; while his mother, as if exhausted, sank down on one of the chairs.

"Yes, it was Tom," she repeated. "Nothing would do for Tom but the
Isles of Shoals; and so, Julia and I had to follow in his train. In my
grandmother's days that would have been different. What is here, dear
Mrs. Wishart, besides you? You are not alone?"

"Not quite. I have brought my little friend, Lois Lothrop, with me; and
she thinks the Isles of Shoals the most charming place that was ever
discovered, by Captain Cook or anybody else."

"Ah, she is here!" said Mrs. Caruthers dryly; while Julia and Mr. Lenox
exchanged glances. "Much other company?"

"Not much; and what there is comes more from New Hampshire than New
York, I fancy."

"Ah!--And what else is here then, that anybody should come here for?"

"I don't know yet. You must ask Miss Lothrop. Yonder she comes. She has
been exploring ever since five o'cl