To gratify her,the blue flannel suit with its white trimming was put on,and Mamma was just buttoning the stout boots when Jack thundered at the door,and burst in with all sorts of glorious news.
"Do come out,mother,it's perfectly splendid on the beach!I've found a nice place for Jill to sit,and it's only a step.Lots of capital fellows here;one has a bicycle,and is going to teach us to ride.No end of fun up at the hotel,and everyone seems glad to see us.Two ladies asked about Jill,and one of the girls has got some shells all ready for her,Gerty Somebody,and her mother is so pretty and jolly,I like her ever so much.They sit at our table,and Wally is the boy,younger than I am,but very pleasant.Bacon is the fellow in knickerbockers;just wish you could see what stout legs he's got!
Cox is the chap for me,though:we are going fishing to-morrow.
He's got a sweet-looking mother,and a sister for you,Jill.Now,then,do come on,I'll take the traps."Off they went,and Jill thought that very short walk to the shore the most delightful she ever took;for people smiled at the little invalid as she went slowly by leaning on Mrs.Minot's arm,while Jack pranced in front,doing the honors,as if he owned the whole Atlantic.A new world opened to her eyes as they came out upon the pebbly beach full of people enjoying their afternoon promenade.Jill save one rapturous Oh.and then sat on her stool,forgetting everything but the beautiful blue ocean rolling away to meet the sky,with nothing to break the wide expanse but a sail here and there,a point of rocks on one hand,the little pier on the other,and white gulls skimming by on their wide wings.
While she sat enjoying herself,Jack showed his mother the place he had found,and a very nice one it was.Just under the green bank lay an old boat propped up with some big stones.A willow drooped over it,the tide rippled up within a few yards of it,and a fine view of the waves could be seen as they'd ashed over the rocks at the point.
"Isn't it a good cubby-house?Ben Cox and I fixed it for Jill,and she can have it for hers.Put her cushions and things there on the sand the children have thrown in--that will make it soft;then these seats will do for tables;and up in the bow I'm going to have that old rusty tin boiler full of salt-water,so she can put seaweed and crabs and all sorts 0c chaps in h for an aquatium,you know,"explained Jack,greatly interested in establishing his family comfortably before he left them.
"There couldn't be a nicer place,and it is very kind of you to get it ready.Spread the shawls and settle Jill,then you needn't think of us any more,but go and scramble with Frank.I see him over there with his spy-glass and some pleasant-looking boys,"said Mamma,bustling about in great spirits.
So the red cushions were placed,the plaids laid,and the little work-basket set upon the seat,all ready for Jill,who was charmed with her nest,and cuddled down under the big parasol,declaring she would keep house there every day.
Even the old boiler pleased her,and Jack raced over the beach to begin his search for inhabitants for the new aquarium,leaving Jill to make friends with some pretty babies digging in the sand,while Mamma sat on the camp-stool and talked with a friend from Harmony Village.
It seemed as if there could not be anything more delightful than to lie there lulled by the sound of the sea,watching the sunset and listening to the pleasant babble of little voices close by.But when thcy went to tea in the great hall,with six tables full of merry people,and half a dozen maids flying about,Jill thought that was even better,because it was so new to her.Gerty and Wally nodded to her,and their pretty mamma was so kind and so gay,rhat Jill could not feel bashful after the first few minutes,and soon looked about her,sure of seeing friendly faces everywhere.Frank and Jack ate as if the salt air bad already improved their appetites,arid talked about Bacon and Cox as if they had been bosom friends for years.Mamma was as happy as they for her friend,Mrs.
Hammond,sat close by;and this rosy lady,who had been a physician,cheered her up by predicting that Jill would soon be running about as well as ever.
But the best of all was in the evening,when the elder people gathered in the parlors and played Twenty Questions,while the children looked on for an hour before going to bed,much amused at the sight of grown people laughing,squabbling,dodging,and joking as if they had all become young again;for,as everyone knows,it is impossible to help lively skirmishes when that game is played.Jill lay in the sofa corner enjoying it all immensely;for she never saw anything so droll,and found it capital fun to help guess the thing,or try to puzzle the opposite side.Her quick wits and bright face attracted people,and in the pauses of the sport she held quite a levee,for everybody was interested in the little invalid.The girls shyly made friends in their own way,the mammas told thrilling tales of the accidents their darlings had survived,several gentlemen kindly offered their boats,and the boys,with the best intentions in life,suggested strolls of two or three miles to Rafe's Chasm and Norman's Woe,or invited her to tennis and archery,as if violent exercise was the cure for all human ills.She was very grateful,and reluctantly went away to bed,declaring,when she got upstairs,that these new friends were the dearest people she ever met,and the Willows the most delightful place in the whole world.
Next day a new life began for the young folks--a very healthy,happy life;and all threw themselves into it so heartily,that it was impossible to help getting great good from it,for these summer weeks,if well spent,work miracles in tired bodies and souls.