Mrs. Salvey shook her head. Then she picked up the discarded
sewing.

"You see," went on Wren, "we used to live with grandfather in a
beautiful cottage right near the river. He was a sea captain, and
couldn't live away from the waves. Then I was strong enough to
play on the sands."

Wren stopped. At the mention of her infirmity a cloud covered her
young face. Presently she brightened up and resumed:

"But I am going to be strong again. When I find - "

She tossed her head back and seemed to see something beyond. For
a moment no one spoke. The silence was, akin to reverence.

"Then," sighed the child, "when we lived by the ocean grandfather
went out in a terrible storm - he said he had to go. And he never
came back."

"Oh!" gasped Cora involuntarily.

Cecilia bent so close to Wren that her breath stirred the brown
ringlets over the child's ears.

"But, of course," declared the child vehemently, "he will come
back. If not here - in some other world."

"Dear," said Mrs. Salvey, "you had better make your story a little
short. I am sure the young ladies will want to get over the roads