on!" laughed Mollie. "Oh, but I think my
room is the _dearest_ one! Come and see it, Amy."

"Not until she selects her own," decided Betty.

Then began the settling down in the charming cottage of Edgemere at
Ocean View. The girls had bedrooms adjoining, and across from one
another along a hall that ran the whole length of the house, and ended
in a little open balcony at either end. The house stood on a point of
land, and from one end a view could be had of the ocean, while the other
opened on Lobster Bay. There was a large plot of ground around the
Nelson cottage so that other bungalows were not too near. And it was in
the midst of a little summer colony of houses, so, though it stood
rather by itself, the place was not in the least lonesome.

Trunks were unpacked, valises stripped of their contents, closets and
chiffoniers filled, bureaus blossomed with a wonderful collection of
combs, brushes, barettes, ribbons, and various bottles and jars. For,
though the outdoor girls were not afraid of sun, wind or rain, Betty had
warned them that sunburn was not an ailment to be rashly courted, and
that cold cream, or talcum powder, judiciously used, might lessen many a
smart.

Behold our friends then, a little later, well fortified within with clam
chowder and other dainties prepared by 'Mandy, the wife of Old Tin-Back,
strolling along the ocean beach. Mrs. Nelson was superintending the
efforts of the maid to bring some order out of chaos at the cottage.

"It is perfectly lovely!" murmured Mollie, as she and her chums walked
along the strand. "Charming."

"And so sweet of you to ask us down, Betty dear!" declared Grace.

"Oh, it was partly selfishness," Betty admitted. "I didn't want to stay
here all summer alone."

"May we always meet with that sort of selfishness," observed Amy.

"I wonder when the boys will come," went on Grace.

"Lonesome already?" asked Betty, smiling.

"No. But Will promised to let me know what new plans he had when he
came, and I've tried so hard to guess his secret that I'm tired."

"Give it up," advised Mollie. "Oh, look what pretty shells!" and she
gathered several from the sand.

"How damp it is!" exclaimed Grace. "Positively, there isn't a bit of
curl left in my hair. But just look at Amy's! I never saw it so pretty!"

"The salt air agrees with hers," said Betty. "We'll all have nice
complexions if this Newport fog continues," and she indicated the mist
arising from the sea.

"Let'