"But my uncle is a very good swimmer, and he only takes me in a very little way. I hold tight on to his hand. Sometimes the surf knocks me down, but uncle Ethan pulls me right up again."
"I'm going to begin to learn to swim, first thing, as soon as I get my bathing-suit," said Johnny. "Felix can swim, and he and Oliver are to show me how."
"I don't see why mamma did not think of the bathing-dresses before we left home," said Sue.
"Why, don't you remember? Felix told her they had a larger variety down this way. You see, they don't keep bathing-clothes so much in inland towns. I doubt if we could have got what we wanted at home, without having them made."
They soon came in sight of the Peterson cottage. Mrs. Peterson was sitting on the veranda with some fancy-work. She was a handsome, finely dressed woman, with a slightly haughty air. She and Mrs. Le Bras had exchanged calls, and the children had been over several times to visit Julia. When she saw the dog-cart coming, she looked quite curiously at Ruth, and then turned towards a lady visitor, who came out of the door at that instant, and said something with a smile. Of course, the children did not hear what she said; but it was, "Don't that country girl, in her dark calico, look odd with Julia and Sue? I wonder what Mrs. Le Bras invited her for!"
"Have you seen Felix, mother?" asked Julia.
"I saw him going down the road with Jack Billings a while ago."
"Jack Billings! Jack didn't touch my kitten, did he?"
"I think not. They have not been around our house. He and Felix were out at the barn, I think. Jack had not been up here more than fifteen minutes or so. I heard him call out to Felix, as he went into the yard, that he wanted him to go down to the Point fishing, with him and some other boys."
Julia laughed merrily. "Well!" she said, "Felix did get mad with me in earnest!"