un into you. Don't get into trouble."

"We are going away from trouble, Miss Jenny Ann," protested Phil. "There
is a yacht club on the sound, but we are going to row up the bay past the
shoals and get as far from civilization as possible."

Madge stood up in the skiff and waved her hand to their chaperon. The
girls looked like a small detachment of feminine naval cadets in their
nautical uniforms. Each one of them wore a dark blue serge skirt of ankle
length and a middy blouse with a blue sailor collar. They were without
hats, as they hoped to get a coating of seashore tan without wasting any
time.

"I shall expect you home by noon," were Miss Jenny Ann's final words as
the "Water Witch" danced away from the houseboat.

"Aye, aye, Skipper!" the girls called back in chorus. "Shall we bring
back lobsters or clams for luncheon, if we can find them?"

"_Clams!_" hallooed Miss Jenny Ann through her hands. "I am dreadfully
afraid of live lobsters." Then the houseboat chaperon retired to write a
letter to an artist, a Mr. Theodore Brown, whose acquaintance she had
made during the first of the houseboat holidays. He had suggested that he
would like to come to Cape May some time later in the summer if any of
his houseboat friends would be pleased to see him, and she was writing to
tell him just how greatly pleased they would be.

The "Merry Maid" had found a quiet anchorage in one of the smaller inlets
of the Delaware Bay, not far from the town of Cape May. The larger number
of the summer cottages were farther away on the tiny islands near the
sound and along the ocean front.

The "Water Witch" sped gayly over the blue waters of the bay in the
brilliant late June sunshine. Madge and Phil, as usual, were at the oars.
Tania crouched quietly at Lillian's feet in the stern of the skiff.
Eleanor sat in the prow.

"What do you think of it all, Tania?" Madge asked the little adopted
houseboat daughter. Tania had been very silent since their arrival at the
seashore. If she were impressed at the wonderful and beautiful things she
had seen since she left New York City, she had, so far, said nothing.

Her large black eyes blinked in the dazzling light. She was looking
straight up toward the sky in a curious, absorbed fashion. "I was trying
to make up my mind, Madge, if this place was as beautiful as my kingdom
in Fairyland," answered Tania seriously, "and I believe it is."

"Have you a kingdom in Fairyland, little Tania?" inquire