ary and fountain to be erected and
set up on the lawns and grounds of the Fair Harbor. Signed----"

Miss Elvira read the names of the signers. They included, as she took
pains to state, the names of every guest in the Fair Harbor with
one--ahem--exception.

"And I'm it, praise the lord," announced Mrs. Tidditt, promptly. "I
ain't quite crazy yet, nor I ain't a niece-in-law of Seth Snowden's
widow neither."

"Esther Tidditt, I've stood your hints and slanders long enough."

"Nobody's payin' _me_ no commissions for gettin' rid of their old junk
for 'em."

"Esther, be still! You shouldn't say such things. Elvira, stop--stop!"
Miss Berry stepped forward. Mrs. Tidditt was bristling like a combative
bantam and Elvira was shaking from head to feet and crooking and
uncrooking her fingers. "There mustn't be any more of this," declared
Elizabeth. "Esther, you must apologize. Stop, both of you, please.
Remember, Cap'n Kendrick is here."

This had the effect of causing every one to look at the captain once
more. He felt unpleasantly conspicuous, but Elizabeth's next speech
transferred the general gaze from him to her.

"There isn't any use in saying much more about this matter, it seems to
me," she said. "It comes down to this: You and the others, Elvira, think
we should buy the--the statues and the fountain because they would, you
think, make our lawns and grounds more beautiful."

"We don't think at all--we know," declared Elvira. Mrs. Brackett said,
"Yes indeed, we do," and there was a general murmur of assent. Also a
loud sniff from the Tidditt direction.

"And your mother thinks so, too," spoke up Miss Peasley, from the group.
"She told me herself she thought they were lovely. Didn't you, Cordelia?
You know you did."

Before Mrs. Berry could answer--her embarrassment and distress seemed
to be bringing her again to the verge of tears--her daughter went on.

"It doesn't make a bit of difference what mother and I think about
their--beauty--and all that," she said. "The whole thing comes down to
the matter of whether or not we can afford to buy them. And we simply
cannot. We haven't the money to spare. Spending seventy-five dollars for
anything except the running expenses of the Harbor is now absolutely
impossible. I told you that, Elvira, when you first suggested it."

Miss Snowden, still trembling, regarded her resentfully. "Yes, _you_
told me," she retorted. "I know you did. You are always telling us we
can't do