What Two Children Did | Page 2

medicine or food until they were fished out with a buttonhook or darning needle. He was fed on cake now, but was generally given crusts, when there were any, because Beth did not like them.
"Why did you ask that question?" asked their mother.
"We thought you looked as though we'd made you an awful lot of trouble," said Ethelwyn, regarding the gorgeous ceiling of the car.
"Yes, you did, although I was not thinking of it just then; you ran away--"
"Walked, mother," corrected Beth, "to the 'lectric car, with grandmother's gold dollar, to go down to buy a trunk specially for our dolls--"
"It was fun, mother," put in Ethelwyn, "only when we stood up and fussed to see who'd push the button to get off, the man slowed up so fast we both fell through a fat man's newspaper into his lap and upon his toes. He was angry too, for he just said 'ugh,' when we asked him to excuse us, please. The trunk man gave us back four big silver nickels with the trunk; we put them inside, and you can have them, mother, to help heal your feelings."
"Your mistake was in not asking--"
"We thought you'd better not be 'sturbed, 'cause ever since grandpa and brother died, you've thought such a lot, and looked so worried--"
"But I was more worried about you when I found you weren't in the house or grounds; I thought you might be lost, and I was about telephoning to the police station about it, when you came, and there was just time to catch the train."
Then Ethelwyn got down, and went over to squeeze in on the other side of her mother. She knelt on the cushions and patted the dear face until the little smile they loved, came out again, and drove the care lines away.
"Children are such a worry, mother," she said in a funny, prim fashion, "that I should think you'd be sorry you ever bought us."
"But we are going to be good from now on, so good you'll nearly die laughing," said Beth, getting up to pat her side of the face.
Their mother laughed now in a bright fashion they loved, and squeezed them up tightly.
"No, no, chickens," she said, "I'm never sorry I bought you; you were bargains, both of you, but I've had much to think of, and plan for, in the last few months, and perhaps I've neglected you somewhat."
"Can you tell us 'bout things, mother?" asked Ethelwyn. "P'raps we could help some."
"Yes, I am going to, but not now, for the porter wishes to make up our beds."
"There are stickers in my eyes," said Beth, yawning. "There's one more question I'd like to know about though," she said as they moved across the aisle. "If God can't make mistakes, why does He let it be so easy for folks to?"
"That I don't just know," said her mother, "but it's a good sign when we know they are mistakes."
It was only a short time after this that they were all asleep in their curtained beds, and while it was still dark, and the children were too sleepy to realize much about it, they reached their destination and were driven to the seashore, cottage where they were to spend the summer.

CHAPTER II At the Shore
Underneath the washing waves The requiem of the sea, For those whose hopes are buried there, Is tolling ceaselessly.
It was interesting to go to sleep in a Pullman car, and to wake up in a dainty room hung with rosebud chintz draperies, and with an altogether delightful air of coziness about it.
But there was something outside their room that, like a magnet, drew them out of bed. They climbed on chairs, and gazed eagerly out of the windows.
The house they were in, was on a hill. Pine trees grew near, and there below them and very near, was the great silvery blue sea, with the sunshine flashing on its tossing waves? The children gasped with delight.
"It's another door to Paradise," said Ethelwyn.
"The gold place that shows where the sun sets is another one," said Elizabeth. Then they heard their mother, who had come in quietly, and in a moment was cuddling them up in her arms.
"We've lost a lot of time, I'm afraid," said Ethelwyn after they had given her a bear hug and a kiss.
"That ocean is the prettiest thing, mother. P'raps that's the way to Paradise where father and grandfather and brother have gone."
"Yes," said their mother, helping them into their clothes. "It is one of the ways."
"Tell us about this place, please," begged Ethelwyn, "and how we happened to come to such a de-lic-ious place. Will you have to work so hard, motherdy, here? And will the little lines come between your eyes?" Whereupon Elizabeth at once abandoned to their fate, her