The moment she entered Rose Villa, Mrs. Thayne heartily agreed
with Frances as to its desirability. To Estelle's amazement, she
proceeded to engage all the rooms, offering to pay for the
privilege of having the whole house for her family.

This was better fortune than Estelle had dreamed of and scarcely
two days passed before she realized that a kindly star was
favoring her. Frances and Edith became friends on the spot; Nurse,
who might have proved a problem, took an instant fancy to delicate
Win and started on a course of coddling that luckily amused Win
quite as much as it satisfied Nurse. Blunt, downright Roger
appealed especially to Estelle, who also found Mrs. Thayne
charming.

"Aren't we in luck, little sister?" she confided to Edith. "Even
our wildest expectations couldn't have pictured anything more
pleasant than this. If they only stop the winter! But where are
you going now?"

"On the sands with the others," said Edith happily. "Fran asked
me. The boys have gone ahead to the end of the terrace."

Win was singing softly to himself as he stood looking down upon
the sandy beach that stretched for miles towards St. Helier's at
the left, and on the right, though showing more warm red granite
rocks, to Noirmont Point. "Britannia needs no bulwarks, no towers
along the steeps," he hummed just above his breath.

"There's a tower right in front of you," commented Roger, between