ce. She
smiled now, and reminded Candace somehow of a great, soft, fully opened
garden rose.

"You have something of your mother's looks, Cannie," she said. "I knew
her best when she was about your age. I never saw much of her after she
married your father and went up to live among the hills." She sighed
softly: there was a short pause. Then, with a sudden change of tone, she
continued: "And all this time you have never been shown your room. I
can't think why they were so stupid. Who was it put you here, Cannie?"

"It was--a lady--in a cap," replied Candace, hesitatingly.

"A lady?--cap? Oh, it must have been Elizabeth. She's my maid,--don't
make such a mistake again, dear; you must learn to discriminate. Well,
come with me now, and let me see you comfortably established. The girls
are gone on a yachting-party to the upper end of the island. It was an
old engagement, made before your aunt's letter came, or they would not
have been absent when you arrived. They were very sor--"

But in the very middle of the word came Frederic, the butler, with the
announcement of new visitors; and, just taking time to lead Candace down
the entry to a room whose door stood wide open, Mrs. Gray hurried away,
saying rapidly: "Take off your hat, dear. Lie down for a rest, hadn't
you better? I'll be up again presently."

"I wonder if everybody is always in a hurry in Newport?" Candace
thought.

She was again alone, but this time she felt no disposition to cry. Her
trunk had been brought up by somebody, and stood already in its place,
with the straps unloosened. She took off her hat and jacket, unpacked a
little, and peeped out of the window to see where she was. The room
faced the east, and across a corner of the lawn and the stable-yard she
had a glimpse of the sea, which had become intensely blue with the
coming of the later afternoon.

"Oh, that is good," she said to herself. "I shall see it all summer."
She glanced about the room with a growing sense of proprietorship which
was pleasant. It was not a large room, but it looked cheerful, with its
simple furniture of pale-colored ash and a matted floor, over which lay
a couple of Persian rugs. There was a small fireplace bordered with blue
tiles which matched the blue papering on the walls; and the tiles on the
washstand, and the chintz of the easy-chair and lounge, and the
flower-jars on the mantelpiece were blue also. Altogether it was a
pretty little chamber, with which any girl