ist, that might
have belonged to a Greek goddess, or to some queen in the Nibelungen
Lied.

The party watched the swimmers as they struck out over the clear
expanse. It was high noon; the fishing-boats were all off, but a few
pleasure-boats swung different ways at their moorings, in the perfect
calm. The white light-house stood reflected opposite, at the end of its
long pier; a few vessels lay at anchor, with their sails up to dry, but
with that deserted look which coasters in port are wont to wear. A few
fishes dimpled the still surface, and as the three swam out farther and
farther, their merry voices still sounded close at hand. Suddenly
they all clapped their hands and called; then pointed forward to the
light-house, across the narrow harbor.

"They are going to swim across," said Kate. "What creatures they are!
Hope and little Jenny have always begged for it, and now Harry thinks it
is so still a day they can safely venture. It is more than half a mile.
See! he has called that boy in a boat, and he will keep near them. They
have swum farther than that along the shore."

So the others went away with no fears.

Hope said afterwards that she never swam with such delight as on that
day. The water seemed to be peculiarly thin and clear, she said, as well
as tranquil, and to retain its usual buoyancy without its density. It
gave a delicious sense of freedom; she seemed to swim in air, and felt
singularly secure. For the first time she felt what she had always
wished to experience,--that swimming was as natural as walking, and
might be indefinitely prolonged. Her strength seemed limitless, she
struck out more and more strongly; she splashed and played with
little Jenny, when the child began to grow weary of the long motion. A
fisherman's boy in a boat rowed slowly along by their side.

Nine tenths of the distance had been accomplished, when the little girl
grew quite impatient, and Hope bade Harry swim on before her, and land
his charge. Light and buoyant as the child was, her tightened clasp had
begun to tell on him.

"It tires you, Hal, to bear that weight so long, and you know I have
nothing to carry. You must see that I am not in the least tired, only a
little dazzled by the sun. Here, Charley, give me your hat, and then
row on with Mr. Harry." She put on the boy's torn straw hat, and they
yielded to her wish. People almost always yielded to Hope's wishes when
she expressed them,--it was so very seldom.

Some