heir hotel faced the ocean, it was just a step
to the wide and beautiful board walk that runs for miles along the beach
at Atlantic City.

In all her life Patty had never seen such a sight as this before, and the
beauty and wonder of it all nearly took her breath away.

The board walk was forty feet wide, and was like a moving picture of
gaily-dressed and happy-faced people.

Although early in April, it seemed like summer time, so balmy was the
air, so bright the sunshine. Patty gazed with delight at the blue ocean,
dotted with whitecaps, and then back to the wonderful panorama of the gay
crowd, the music of the bands, and the laughter of the children.

"The best way to get an idea of the extent of this thing," said Mr.
Banks, "is to take a ride in the wheeled chairs. You two girls hop into
that double one, and I will take this single one, and we'll go along the
walk for a mile or so."

The chairs were propelled by strong young coloured men, who were affable
and polite, and who explained the sights as they passed them, and pointed
out places of interest. Patty said to Ethel that she felt as if she were
in a perambulator, except that she wasn't strapped in. But she soon
became accustomed to the slow, gentle motion of the chairs, and declared
that it was indeed an ideal way to see the beautiful place. On one side
was an endless row of small shops or bazaars, where wares of all sorts
were offered for sale. At one of these, a booth of oriental trinkets, Mr.
Banks stopped and bought each of the girls a necklace of gay-coloured
beads. They were not valuable ornaments, but had a quaint, foreign air,
and were very pretty in their own way. Patty was greatly pleased, and
when they passed another booth which contained exquisite Armenian
embroideries, she begged Ethel to accept the little gift from her, and
picking out some filmy needle-worked handkerchiefs, she gave them to her
friend.

On they went, past the several long piers, until Mr. Banks said it was
time to turn around if they would reach the hotel in time for dinner.

So back they went to the hotel, and, after finding the Allens, they all
went to the dining-room.

Privately, Patty wondered how these people could spend so much time
eating dinner, when they might be out on the beach. At last, to her great
satisfaction, dinner was over, and Mr. Allen proposed that they all go
out for a short stroll on the board walk.

Although it had been a gay scene in the afternoo