owed for the most desirable
veranda rockers; the blather of voices, the emph-umph-umph of the
three-nights-a-week orchestra and the remote pound of the ocean joined
in united effort.

At eight o'clock Miss Myra Sternberger yawned in her wicker rocker and
raised two round and bare-to-the-elbow arms high above her head.

"Gee!" she said. "This place is so slow it gets on my nerves--it does!"

Mrs. Blondheim, who carried toast away from the breakfast-table
concealed beneath a napkin for her daughter who remained abed until
noon, paused in her Irish crochet, spread a lace wheel upon her ample
knee, and regarded it approvingly.

"What you got to kick about, Miss Sternberger? Didn't I see you in the
surf this morning with that shirtwaist drummer from Cincinnati?"

"Mr. Eckstein--oh, I been meetin' him down here in July for two years.
He's a nice fellow an' makes a good livin'--but he ain't my style."

"Girls are too particular nowadays. Take my Bella--why, that girl's
had chances you wouldn't believe! But she always says to me, she says,
'Mamma, I ain't goin' to marry till Mr. Right comes along.'"

"That's just the same way with me."

"My Bella's had chances--not one, but six. You can ask anybody who knows
us in New York the chances that goil has had."

"I ain't in a hurry to take the first man that asks me, neither."

Mrs. Blondheim wrapped the forefinger of her left hand with mercerized
cotton thread, and her needle flashed deftly.

"What about the little Baltimore fellow that went away yesterday? I seen
he was keepin' you pretty busy."

"Aw, Mrs. Blondheim, can't a girl have a good time with a fellow without
gettin' serious?"

But she giggled in pleased self-consciousness and pushed her combs into
place--Miss Sternberger wore her hair oval about her face like Mona
Lisa; her cheeks were pink-tinted, like the lining of a conch-shell.

"My Bella always says a goil can't be too careful at these here summer
resorts--that's why she ain't out every night like some of these goils.
She won't go out with a young man till she knows he comes from nice
people."

Miss Sternberger patted the back of her hand against her mouth and
stifled a yawn.

"One thing I must say for my Bella--no matter where I take that goil,
everybody says what a nice, retirin' goil she is!"

"Bella does retire rather early," agreed Miss Sternberger in tones
drippingly sweet.

"I try to make her rest up in summer," pursued Mrs. Blondheim,
un