"Well, I'm not a donkey," she said, "and I'm not a lap-dog; and, besides,
you want to yourself."

"No, I don't," said Tom stoutly. "I hate to sit on any one's lap; if you
are so anxious you can sit on nurse's."

Susie's eyes threatened to overflow.

"Oh, don't cry, Susie," said her mother, in alarm, "or I shall have to
put up my umbrella. Go and build a castle with Tom, and take Amy. I trust
her to you. Nurse and I must get the babies home."

Susie always rose to any demand made upon her, and was proud of being
trusted. She gathered Dick's shells and seaweed and glittering stones
skilfully into his pail, and was really helpful in rolling up the rugs
and cushions. She was so pleased to see his rather thin, unsteady legs
gathering strength as they wobbled slowly over the sand. When she put her
arm round him, she was proud to feel that he really needed support. At
the foot of the wooden steps leading up the cliff his mother took him
in her arms. She was looking tired and pale, but she smiled very sweetly
at Susie.

"My kind little daughter," she said; and Susie beamed.

When she got back to Tom and Amy she found that they were not alone: two
other children, a boy and a girl, with bare feet and tucked-up skirts,
were standing talking to them.

The boy had black eyes and black hair, and the girl was the image of him;
her long, thin legs were like pipe stems, and she spoke in a loud,