own so gently that she did not wake.

The others had paused in the veranda below. Zoe and Rosie came running
over to say the bathing hour was near at hand, and to ask if they were
going in.

"I am not," Elsie said.

"Nor I," said Violet, "I'm a little tired and should prefer to sit here
and chat with mamma."

"I'd like to go in," said Max. "When papa comes down I'll ask if I may."

"Mamma," said Rosie, "I don't care to go in to-day, but may I go down on
the beach and watch the bathers?"

"Yes, daughter. Take a servant with you to carry some camp-chairs and to
watch over Walter, if he wants to go with you."

"You'll come too, won't you?" Rosie said to Lulu; "it's good fun to watch
the people in the water."

"I'll have to ask leave first," replied Lulu in a sullen tone. "Can you
wait till papa comes down?"

"That is not necessary since your father has invested me with authority to
give you permission," remarked Violet pleasantly. "You may go if you will
keep with Rosie and the others. But, Lulu, my dear, I wish you would first
go up to your room, take off those coral ornaments and put them away
carefully. They do not correspond well with the dress you have on, and
are not suitable for you to wear down on the beach at this time of day."

She had noticed, on first seeing the child that morning, that she had them
on, but said nothing about it till now.

"You said you gave them to me to keep!" cried Lulu, turning a flushed and
angry face toward her young step-mother; "and if they are my own, I have a
right to wear them when and where I please, and I shall do so."

"Lucilla Raymond, to whom were you speaking?" asked her father sternly,
stepping into their midst from the open door-way.

The child hung her head in sullen silence, while Vi's face was full of
distress; Elsie's but little less so.

"Answer me!" commanded the captain in a tone that frightened even insolent
Lulu. "I overheard you speaking in an extremely impertinent manner to some
one. Who was it?"

"Your new wife," muttered the angry child.

The captain was silent for a moment, trying to gain control over himself.
Then he said calmly, but not less sternly than he had spoken before, "Come
here."

Lulu obeyed, looking pale and frightened.

He leaned down over her, unclasped the coral ornaments from her neck and
arms, and handing them to Violet, said, "My dear, I must ask you to take
these back. I cannot allow her to keep or wear them."

"O Levi