he party."

"I won't," said Betty, trying a little smile before the mirror and doing
it pretty successfully. "I didn't mean to that time, only, I was--just
thinking."

"I know," said Grace a little petulantly, as she pulled off her hat and
threw it on the bed. "It seems to me that's all I'm ever doing--'just
thinking.' If I could only really do something! Some time I'll scream
aloud!"

"Well, don't you think we're all pretty much in the same fix?" suggested
Betty gently, coming over and putting an arm about her.

"I suppose so," she answered, eyes fixed moodily on the floor. "Only the
rest of you have only one to worry about, while I--" she stopped,
flushed, and began letting down her thick hair. "If I could only cry!"

"I imagine that might help us all," said Betty wistfully, adding, with a
touch of her old gayety: "Perhaps I can arrange it after supper."

"What?" asked Grace.

"A cry party," she answered, and the absurdity of it made them both
laugh.

In spite of the shadow hanging over them, dinner that night was a great
success. Everybody pitched in, and, having acquired ravenous appetites
on their long ride, did the cooking in record time, and of course
everything tasted ambrosial.

After dinner they wandered out on the veranda, which was almost as big
as the rest of the house put together. It was a wonderful night, with
the moon so bright that it shed a magic silver radiance over everything
while the lapping of the water came softly up to them.

Suddenly Mollie's hand slipped into Betty's where they stood together
looking out.

"On such a night as this," breathed Mollie, scarcely above a whisper,
"there should be nothing but peace in the world."

"Should be--yes," agreed Betty, a little bitterly. "But things are not
always as they should be!"

CHAPTER XV

THE TELEGRAM

The morning dawned gloriously bright, and at the first ray of the sun
the girls were up and dressed and ready for the fun of the day.

"I don't know what I'll do if our trunks don't come," worried Amy, as
she took a rather creased white skirt and waist from her suitcase. "I
brought only one change and a bathing suit."

"Well, as long as you brought the bathing suit, it's all right,"
returned Mollie, sticking one last pin in her hair. "I intend to live in
mine to-day."

"And, anyway, we can't possibly expect the trunks till this afternoon,"
put in Grace; "so I don't see any use in worrying about them now."

"If they