know she could make, sugary and melty, entirely perfect, in fact,--to
take down on the beach for luncheon.

After breakfast was over they at once started for the beach. Sierra
Nevada, their colored nurse, following them with small buckets, shovels,
wraps, and cushions.

"Mother, this is the nicest place, and I love the Stevenses; but why are
they sad around the eyes, and dressed in black, like you? Has their
father gone to Paradise too?" asked Ethelwyn, as they walked along.

"Yes, dear. Besides, the young captain whom Dorothy was going to marry
went away last year and, his ship was wrecked and he has never been
heard from. So they fear he was drowned."

"O, mother, can this pretty sea do that? What was it they were saying
about a tide?"

Their mother tried to explain all she knew about the tides, and when she
had finished, Ethelwyn said:

"I think it would be easier to remember to call it tied, and then
untied."




_CHAPTER III_
_Beth and Her Dolls_