"And so sweet of you to ask us down, Betty dear!" declared Grace.
"Oh, it was partly selfishness," Betty admitted. "I didn't want to stay here all summer alone."
"May we always meet with that sort of selfishness," observed Amy.
"I wonder when the boys will come," went on Grace.
"Lonesome already?" asked Betty, smiling.
"No. But Will promised to let me know what new plans he had when he came, and I've tried so hard to guess his secret that I'm tired."
"Give it up," advised Mollie. "Oh, look what pretty shells!" and she gathered several from the sand.
"How damp it is!" exclaimed Grace. "Positively, there isn't a bit of curl left in my hair. But just look at Amy's! I never saw it so pretty!"
"The salt air agrees with hers," said Betty. "We'll all have nice complexions if this Newport fog continues," and she indicated the mist arising from the sea.
"Let's sit down and just look at the ocean," suggested Amy, when they had walked some distance down the beach, and while they were thus idly employed, and when the afternoon was waning, they spied a solitary figure approaching them down the stretch of sand.