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seemed to have the very two she wanted. Before they all left the shop Mrs. Ford turned to Ann.

“We’re taking the boys over to our shack on the Puawa beach, to bathe, this afternoon. What about joining us? You’ll be free, won’t you, if your room is closed?”

“I’ve arranged to call for Biddy and Jo at Mrs. Marley’s.”

“Bring them along teo. Rhoda’s driving us in her Buick. We’ll all pack in quite easily. And we’re taking tea, and will have it at the shack.”

“Do come,” said Mrs. Hemingway, “if it wouldn’t bore you.”

She was a very pleasant-faced woman in her late thirties. She had a daughter of eighteen, Ann knew. Rhoda had evidently followed her mother’s example, and married early.

Ann assured them that she certainly wouldn’t be bored, and that she would love to join them; and it was arranged that they should pick up the little girls at Mrs. Marley’s, and then call for Ann at the shop shortly after two o’clock.

She had seen Biddy and Jo at various times since the day they had traveled down from Tirau, and had once or twice taken them to a teashop in the main street, and over to the bathing-sheds on the town beach, less than a mile away, for a swim. But she had been so rushed with work that she had been able to spare them very little time. Now, she looked forward to spending the whole afternoon with them, and with these new friends.

Puawa beach was some distance from Wairiri. It was beyond a big hill and long promontory, which jutted out from the mouth of the river on the opposite