departed and finding that Mrs. Stark was attracting the
attention of the other guests upon the piazza, Aunt Lucretia persuaded
her to cross the street to the pavilion that stood upon the bluff above
the water and that was now deserted.

"From there we can see the boat as soon as it approaches, dear Mrs.
Stark, and I feel sure you've no cause for such anxiety. Doubtless the
boys have been fishing and have not realized how long. It is still
bright daylight yonder and these are glorious moonlight nights. Even if
they stayed out till bedtime they could see all right enough."

Mrs. Stark followed the advice to seek the pavilion; yet simply because
it brought her that much nearer her lost darling. But when a tray of
supper was sent out to the two ladies there she refused to touch it and
her grief spoiled her companion's appetite as well.

After a little time Miss Greatorex and the girls retired to their rooms,
at the Judge's advice. He too had at last become infected with the
anxious mother's forebodings and felt that there was no need for Molly
and Dolly to be also frightened. Then he joined the watchers in the
pavilion, where the other guests refrained from disturbing them,
although it was a favorite resort on pleasant evenings.

Many a boat came back to the various small piers extending from the
shore into the water, here and there, but none was the little "Digby
Chicken." Her owner took his place at the end of the pier and sat down
to wait. Of all his boats she was the newest and prettiest. She had
sailed out into the sunlight glistening with white paint, her new sail
white and unstained, and on her shining hull a decoration of herring
surrounding her red-lettered name. It had been the builder's conceit to
omit the name, the string of painted fish answering for it to all but
"foreigners;" but as it had been built for the use of these "foreigners"
or "tourists" the printed words had finally been added.

Minutes passed. Quarter-hours; an hour; two of them; even three. There
was no longer any moonlight. The distant cliffs and headlands became
invisible. One could only guess where the Gap strove to close the
entrance to an outer world. The hotel verandah became more and more
deserted, and one by one the lights in the upper windows shone out for a
time, then disappeared. Gradually all lights vanished save those in the
lobby and a faint glimmer from a corridor above.

Though wraps has been early sent out to the anxious wat