ite of her expressed promise to the contrary, she still wore
those high-heeled shoes. "You act as though you had run away from the
plague, Betty!"

"And so we did, my dear. The plague of fish! Ugh! I can almost taste
them--fishy, oily fish!"

"And she offered us--milk!" added Mollie.

"It would probably have been--cod-liver oil," spoke Betty, with a
shudder of repugnance. "Oh, let me get a breath of real air!" and she
turned her face to the misty wind of the sea.

"But what does it all mean?" asked Amy, in rather bewildered tones.
"Why did we run away?"

"That's what I want to know," put in Grace. "And I believe--yes, I have
dropped my chocolates. Oh, how provoking! I'm going back after them."

"You're going to do nothing of the sort!" declared Betty, with a
firmness she seldom manifested.

"But--why?" questioned Grace. "Why can't I go back after my candy?"

"Baby!" mocked Mollie.

"Because it's probably near that abominable hut!" said Betty. "And that
old crone might capture you. Did you see how eager she was to get us in
there?"

"She did seem rather insistent," agreed Amy. "But was it any more than
mere kindness?"

"If you ask me--it was," said Betty, firmly.

"But why?" persisted Grace.

"Eternal question mark!" Betty commented. "Now, girls," she went on, "I
don't know all the whys and wherefores, but I'm sure of one thing, and
that is nice people don't live in that hut. I don't mean just poor, or
unfortunate, or ignorant people, either," she went on. "I mean they
aren't nice--or--or safe! There, perhaps you'll like that better."

"Not safe?" repeated Grace. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I saw faces looking from the window of that hut, the day we
found the diamonds, that I wouldn't want to meet in the dark, or
alone--those who go with the faces, perhaps, I should say."

"Oh!" exclaimed Grace, glancing involuntarily over her shoulder.

"Oh, no one is following us," Betty said; "but I wanted to get well
away."

"Why do you think she wanted us to go in?" inquired Mollie.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the diamonds?" was Amy's
question.

"I don't know what to think," confessed Betty. "But I wouldn't have gone
into that hut for a good bit. Though perhaps the worst we would have
been asked would have been to purchase some worthless trifles."

"Or perhaps buy smuggled lace," suggested Mollie.

"I never thought of that!" exclaimed Betty. "Of course it might be
that."

"If Will were o