running out of the house. "That was an
invitation for us to go to Aunt Emily's at the seashore. And Cousin
Dorothy says we will have such a lovely time! But I'm sure we could
never have a better time than we had here, Harry," she added to her
cousin.

"I'll be awfully sorry to have you go, Nan," replied Harry. "We have
had so much fun all month. I'll just be dead lonesome, I'm sure," and
Harry sat down in dejection, just as if his loved cousins had gone
already.

"There's no boy at Uncle William's;" said Bert. "Of course Nan will
have Dorothy, but I'll have to look around for a chum, I suppose."

"Oh, you'll find lots of boys at the beach," said Harry. "And to think
of the fun at the ocean! Mother says we will go to the shore next
summer."

"I wish you were going with us," said Bert politely.

"Maybe you will come down for a day while we are there," suggested Nan.
"Aunt Emily isn't just exactly your aunt, because she's mamma's sister,
and it's papa who is Uncle Daniel's brother. But the Minturns, Aunt
Emily's folks, you know, have been up here and are all like real
cousins."

"We're going away!" exclaimed Freddie, joining the others just then.
"Mamma says I can stick my toes in the water till the crabs bite me,
but I'm going to have a fishhook and catch them first."

"Are you going to take Snoop?" Harry asked his little cousin.

"Yep," replied the youngster. "He knows how to go on trains now."

"Dorothy has a pair of donkeys," Nan told them, "and a cart we can go
riding in every day."

"I'll be the driver," announced Freddie. "And I suppose you'll have a
sailboat, Bert!" said Harry.

"Not in the ocean," said nervous little Flossie, who had been listening
all the time and never said a word until she thought there was some
danger coming.

"Certainly not," said Bert; "there is always a little lake of quiet
water around ocean places."

Aunt Sarah came out now, all dressed for a drive.

"Well, my dears," she said, "you are going to Ocean Cliff to-morrow, so
you can invite all your Meadow Brook friends to a little lawn party
to-day. I'm going down now to the village to order some good things for
you. I want you all to have a nice time this afternoon."

"I'm going to give some of my books to Nettie," said Flossie, "and some
of my paper dolls too."

"Yes. Nettie has not many things to play with," agreed Nan, "and we can
get plenty more."

"I'm going to get all my birds' nests together," said Bert, "and t