little
girl is with him. I would advise you to join them."

That was all the reproof he administered, but it was sufficient to make
Molly Breckenridge flush scarlet again, and this time with anger against
the skipper. She hurried to "join" the others who had met Miss
Greatorex and exclaimed with great heat:

"I just detest that horrid stiff Captain! He looked--he believed I
tumbled against that precious bugler of his just on purpose! I wish I
need never see either one of them again or hear that wretched thing
toot!"

She could not then foresee how important a part in her own life that
"toot" was yet to play; nor was the laughter with which her outburst was
received very comforting.

CHAPTER V

MOONLIGHT AND MIST ON THE SEA

However and despite her declaration to the contrary it was a most
welcome "toot" which sounded along the deck and announced to the hungry
voyagers that dinner was served; and Molly was among the first to spring
up and hurry her father tableward.

"Seems as if I'd never had anything to eat in all my life!" she
exclaimed. "Come on, Dolly Doodles, _you_ must be actually famished."

"I am pretty hungry," admitted Dorothy; but mindful now of her recent
resolve to do everything as Miss Greatorex would have her, she waited
until that lady rose from her steamer chair, gathered her wraps about
her, and anxiously inquired of Mrs. Hungerford:

"Will it be safe to leave my rug behind? or should I carry it with me to
table?"

"Oh! leave it, by all means. There's none too much room below and I
never worry about my things. Lay it on your chair and that will prove to
anybody who comes along that your especial seat is 'reserved.' I'm
leaving mine, you see;" answered the more experienced traveler,
wondering if Miss Isobel's nervousness would not prove a most unpleasant
factor in their vacation fun. Also thinking that she had too readily
given consent to Molly's written plea: that Dorothy and a teacher should
be invited to join them on this trip.

Because there had been some question as to where the girl should pass
the long vacation. Deerhurst would not be open, even if Mrs. Calvert had
expressed any desire for a visit from Dorothy, which she had not. The
old gentlewoman was to spend that season at the White Sulphur Springs,
whither she had been in the habit of going during many years; and where
among other old aristocrats she queened it at their own exclusive hotel.

The mountain cottage woul