without paying the slightest attention to Julia. This treatment, however, did not disturb Julia. She was, indeed, too well accustomed to Frances to let her cause her the least uneasiness. Besides, she found it altogether more amusing to paddle about, now and then supporting herself with a board which in some way had drifted within the bathing limits. This was far pleasanter to her than following Brenda and Frances into the deeper water. Besides, out there the jelly fish, white or pink, were altogether too numerous for Julia’s fancy. Brenda did not mind them. In swimming she was expert enough to steer clear of them. She was inclined to laugh when Julia, with a scream of annoyance, drew back from the star-shaped pulpy things that floated about, altogether too near the surface of the water.
“It would be so very unpleasant,” she always thought, “to swallow one of those queer things, and there seems to be no reason why they should n’t drift into my mouth.”
So now she drifted indolently on the surface of the water. Her finger-tips rested lightly on the edge of the board as she moved along, making the swimming motions with her feet. She realized that she was staying a long time in the water; but she felt so thoroughly refreshed that she dreaded going back to the warm shore. Glancing toward the beach, she saw that it was altogether deserted.
“Where in the world are Brenda and Frances?” she suddenly exclaimed to herself, glancing out in the direction where she had last seen them, splashing the water at each other after they had finished a short race.
