d been
written. "I wonder what Mr. Sawyer and Mr. Ernst will think of that?"
said Alice, as Rosa wrote the last line of the third chapter.

"I am going to write to Mr. Sawyer to-day. We must have those books
before we can go much farther. Would it not be well to tell him that we
are ready for our audience?"

Alice assented, and the letter reached Quincy one Friday evening, it
being his last call on his aunt before her departure for Old Orchard.
"Give my love to both of them," said Aunt Ella, "and tell Alice I send
her a kiss. I won't tell you how to deliver it; you will probably find
some way before you come back."

Quincy protested that he could not undertake to deliver it, but his aunt
only laughed, kissed him, bade him good-by, and told him to be sure and
come down to Maine to see her.

Quincy and Leopold took the Saturday afternoon boat and arrived, as
usual, about seven o'clock. They both repaired to the hotel previously
patronized by Quincy, having decided to defer their call upon the young
ladies until Sunday morning. It was a bright, beautiful day, not a cloud
was to be seen in the broad, blue expanse above them. A cool breeze was
blowing steadily from the southwest, and as the young men walked down
Centre Street towards the Cliff, Leopold remarked that he did not wonder
that the Nantucketers loved their "tight little isle" and were sorry to
leave it. "One seems to be nearer Heaven here than he does in a crowded
city, don't he, Quincy?" Quincy thought to himself that his Heaven was
in Nantucket, and that he was very near to it, but he did not choose to
utter these feelings to his friend, so he merely remarked that the sky
did seem much nearer.

They soon reached Mrs. Gibson's and were shown directly to the young
ladies' parlor and library, for it answered both purposes. They were
attired in two creations of Mrs. Chessman's dressmaker, Aunt Ella having
selected the materials and designed the costumes, for which art she had
a great talent. Rosa's dress was of a dark rose tint, with revers and a
V-shaped neck, filled in with tulle of a dark green hue. The only other
trimming on the dress was a green silk cord that bordered the edges of
the revers and the bottom of the waist. As Quincy looked at her, for she
sat nearest to the door, she reminded him of a beautiful red rose, and
the green leaves which enhanced its beauty. Then his eyes turned quickly
to Alice, who sat in her easy-chair, near the window. Her dres