is nearest neighbor.

"Oh, everything is on an improved scale this year," said still a third,
speaking confidently.

"The _meeting_ can't be any better," spoke a quiet-faced woman, with a
decided voice, "that is simply impossible."

Marion laughed softly.

"Hear the lunatics!" she said, bending to give Flossy the benefit of her
words. "They are just infatuated; they think this is the original Garden
of Eden, with that wretched Eve left out. If she were here I would choke
her with a relish." This last in a muttered undertone, too low for even
Flossy, and with a darkening face.

Meantime the boat rounded the point, the plank was laid, and the feet of
the eager passengers touched the shores of Chautauqua. Some detention
about tickets, arising from a misunderstanding of terms, made our girls
lose sight and sound of the rest of the boat-load, and when they passed
within the railing they found themselves suddenly and strangely alone. A
few lights glimmered in the trees, enough to point the way, and from the
cottages near at hand streams of light shot out into the darkness; but
no sound of footsteps, no sight of human being appeared

"Over the river, on the hill,
Another village lieth still,"

quoted Marion, gravely. Then:

"I say, Flossy, what does it all mean? Are we among a party of witches,
do you suppose? Where could those congenial spirits so suddenly have
conveyed themselves away, I wonder? The road isn't broad, but it most
decidedly isn't straight. Only behold that long, long, _long_ array of
damp and empty seats! Where are the faithful now, do you suppose?"

"There isn't any meeting here to-night, and we might have known there
wouldn't be," Flossy said, peevishly, beginning to grow not only
disenchanted but half frightened. "I was never in such a queer place in
my life! Those white seats all look like ghosts. What could have
possessed you to come to-night? Of course they wouldn't have meeting in
the rain! Marion, do let us go back; I am frightened out of my wits!"

"You blessed little simpleton!" said Marion, gaily. "What on earth is
there to be frightened over? Not pine seats and lamplight, surely, and
there is nothing more formidable than that so far."

"I wish with all my heart that I were safely back in the hotel, where I
would have been if you had not coaxed me away," sighed, or rather
whined, poor Flossy, shivering with chilliness or nervousness, and
added: "Come, Marion, do let us go back w