more
fetchingly over her ear. "I might have known you would be."

"Goodness, anybody would think she was at Palm Beach or some other show
place," cried Mollie, pulling her own plain little cap a trifle lower
over her ears. "If you expect an audience, Gracie, I'm afraid you will
be disappointed."

"Here I am, trying to give you something good to look at--"

But they would hear no more and hustled her with scant ceremony away
from the mirror and out of the door.

"Come on!" cried Betty, taking the stairs two at a time. "Let's see who
gets to the water first. I'm betting nine to one on myself."

"Goodness, she's as conceited as you are, Gracie," gasped Mollie,
following hard on Betty's footsteps. "Here's my chance to take some of
it out of her!"

Grace and Amy, following at not quite such breakneck speed, came out on
the porch in time to see two slender, black-clad figures with vivid red
and green caps scrambling down the side of the bluff that led to the
beach.

As they started after them Mrs. Ford joined them and they ran together
to the edge of the bluff. The slope was not quite so gentle as they had
thought on the night before, and Mollie and Betty were puffing
considerably when they reached the bottom--which they did at almost the
same minute.

Then, fleet-footed, they sped across the sand toward the inviting water
beyond, while Mrs. Ford, Grace, and Amy clambered down the bluff in
their turn.

At the bottom they turned, saw Betty and Mollie reach the water's edge
at the same instant--or so it seemed to them--and dash into the green
depths. A moment more and the two black figures were lost to sight and
only two vivid caps bobbed on the surface of the water.

"Do you suppose it's quite safe?" asked Mrs. Ford. "I wish the girls
hadn't been in such a hurry."

"Oh you needn't worry about them," Grace assured her. "Betty and Mollie
are regular fish in the water, and you know there aren't any mean
currents around here. The beach slopes gradually down so that they can't
get caught in water holes either, so don't worry, Mother," and she
slipped an affectionate hand into her mother's and received an answering
smile in return.

And, oh, how good that water did feel!

As they waded into it up to their waists, Mollie and Betty came swimming
back, shaking the water from their eyes and cleaving the big combers
with long, powerful strokes.

"Well, who won?" Amy challenged them, as they came within shouting
dista