"Yes, and she said she didn't like any of the people that were here for the Summer," said Rose.
"Gwen said her mamma said that, but she said the reason was because she was provoked, and Gwen said she teased and teased her to stay, so she did, and they truly are in that big yellow house on the cliff. There's only about a dozen people boarding there, and Gwen said it seemed more select than the place where she'd been staying."
"I said: 'You like Polly Sherwood and Rose Atherton,' and she said, 'Yes, I like them, but it's the grown people that we don't care for,'" concluded Sprite.
"It was the grown people that didn't like Gwen, and no wonder," said Rose. "Who would like to have her trunks and boxes emptied on the floor, and all the hats and dresses pulled over? I don't believe anyone in that yellow house, or any other house will like to have her do that."
A cool breeze blew in from the ocean, and the three sprang to their feet.
"Let's pull off our shoes and stockings and dance on the thin edge of the water," cried Sprite.
"I'll sing a song mamma taught me."
They clasped hands, and gracefully they skipped in time with the pretty song.
"We are water nymphs so free,
We are merry sisters three.
When the sunbeams kiss the foam
From our coral cave we roam,
And we float up to the strand
Where we dance upon the sand.
"When the moon with silvery ray
Glistens on the tossing spray,
Then upon the beach we dance,
Fleet of foot we whirl and prance.
Whirling, swaying, gay and free,
Merry water nymphs are we."