“Why, of the way Phil is carrying on to-night!  Did you ever see anybody so lost to all things mundane—­save the presence of a certain very dainty little lady—­as he is at this moment?”

“He does seem unusually frisky, I admit—­especially with his feet,” said the professor, with a smile.

“His feet!  Will, just look at him!  He doesn’t know he has any feet; he is all eyes and—­heart!  You know what I mean, dear,” his companion pursued.  “I’ve seen you watching them with that quizzical look in your eyes.  What would you think of it as a—­a match?”

“Emelie! a matchmaker!—­thou!” ejaculated her husband, in a tone of mock dismay, though his lips twitched with amusement.

She laughed out musically, a sound that he loved and heard frequently nowadays.

“But what would you think?” she persisted.

“I would think, sweetheart, that—­with one exception I could name--he had won a crown jewel and the sweetest wife in the world,” replied the professor as he looked fondly down into the blue eyes uplifted to his.

Once Sadie, leaning on the arm of a dashing cadet in uniform, swept slowly by Katherine and her companion.

“How about that wager, honey?” she languidly inquired, her roguish eyes fastened upon the conspicuous rosebuds.

But Katherine’s only reply was a defiant toss of her brown head as she smiled serenely back at her and whirled blissfully on.

Of course, it all had to come to an end, and morning found the weary, though still happy, revelers preparing, with much bustle and confusion, to disperse to their various homes; but that last delightful evening, with its music, and flowers, and charming associations, remained a brilliant spot in memory’s realm during many after years.

A week later found the Minturns and Seabrooks again located for the season at Manchester-by-the-sea.

Prof.  Seabrook, to the great joy of his family, was to remain with them throughout the vacation.  He would do no roaming this year, he said.  He had something of far more importance to attend to, and unfolded a plan to his dear ones, which was received with the greatest enthusiasm; more of which anon.

It proved to be a summer long to be remembered by all, especially by Jennie, for various reasons; one of which was, she had never before seen the ocean, and it was a wonderful revelation to her, filling her with ever-increasing admiration and awe.

“One gets something of an idea of what eternity means,” she said, with a long-drawn breath of rapture, when, one day, Katherine accompanied her to a high point which commanded a limitless expanse of sea that seemed to softly melt away into the sky and so become lost to human vision.

She could not content herself indoors much of the time, and almost won for. herself again the sobriquet of “Wild Jennie,” for she would often disappear directly after breakfast, going off on long tramps to return hours later, laden with a promiscuous assortment of shells, stones, star-fish and other curiosities with which she lavishly adorned her own room and various other portions of the house.