I guess we had better take warning while there is still time, Grace,"
said Mollie, with a little laugh. And so for the time being at least
peace was restored.

"But when do you suppose Anita and her brother will come to see us?"
asked Amy. "I do hope it won't be very long."

"I think Amy likes Conway," said Grace, then turning to Betty she asked
meaningly: "Do you, by any chance, believe in love at first sight?"

"Oh, I think it can be done," Betty answered, her eyes twinkling with
fun as she looked at Amy's flushed face. "At least, I do believe in
strong attractions at the first meeting. Perhaps that is all Amy has
felt just yet."

"Oh, girls!" implored Amy, in an agony of bashfulness, "I don't like
Conway Benton one bit more than any of the rest of you, and you know it.
I think it is mean for you to tease."

"Oh, Amy, dear, it is only fun," cried Betty, throwing an arm about her
friend. "We don't really think that you have been smitten with a
stranger's charms. Still _stranger_ things have happened."

"I don't agree with you," said Amy, and they wisely forbore to pursue
the subject.

"Oh, but didn't that fish taste good last night?" said Mollie, coming
down to every-day matters. "I never ate anything like it in all my
life."

"That's because we caught it ourselves," said Grace, unconsciously
voicing a common trait in human nature.

"Let's take fish out of the conversation for a little while," Betty
suggested, "and talk about something romantic."

"For instance?" Grace inquired, with uplifted eyebrows.

"The gypsies," Betty answered. "Ever since the other night I've been
wondering if there was anything in what that old store-keeper said."

"I hope not," said Amy, with a shudder. "I am more afraid of them than
anything else in the world, I think."

"I don't see why," Mollie reflected. "Probably they are a great deal
more afraid of us."

"Well, all gypsies are akin, they say; so maybe we could find out
something about Mr. Ford's Beauty and about Mrs. Billette's silver,"
returned Betty.

"Oh, don't talk about that," cried Mollie. "It fairly makes me sick, for
I'm sure we shall never hear of the things again."

"I wonder when the boys are going to try to ford to the islands?" said
Grace. "The tide's getting low now."

"Hello! where is everybody?" it was Will's voice calling from the woods.
"We are going for a paddle--who wants to come along?"

"Ask us," called Betty. "We were just hoping you'd come t