"It's lovely to have company," she confided to her Aunt Alice one day, "and I do enjoy it ever so much, only somehow I get tired of ordering and looking after things day after day." "All housekeepers have that experience, Patty, dear," said Aunt Alice, "but they're usually older than you before they begin. It is a great deal of care for a girl of sixteen, and though you get along beautifully, I'm sure it has been rather a hard summer for you." So impressed was Mrs. Elliott with these facts that she talked to Mr. Fairfield about the matter, and advised him to take Patty away somewhere for a little rest and change before beginning her school year again. Mr. Fairfield agreed heartily to this plan, expressed himself as willing to take Patty anywhere, and suggested that some of the Elliotts go, too. When Patty's opinion was asked, she said she would be delighted to go away for a vacation, and that she had the place all picked out. "Well, you are an expeditious young woman," said her father. "And where is it that you want to go?" "Why, you see, papa, the 1st of September, when Bob and Bumble go home from here, Nan isn't going back with them; she's going down to Spring Lake. That's a place down on the New Jersey coast, and I've never been there, and she says it's lovely, and so I want to go there." "Well, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't," said Mr. Fairfield. "It would suit me well enough, if Nan is willing we should follow in her footsteps." "I'm delighted to have you," said Nan, who was in a hammock at the other end of the veranda when this conclave was taking place. "I wish we could go with the crowd," said Bob, who was perched on the veranda railing. "I wish so, too," said Bumble; "but wishing doesn't do any good. After that letter father wrote yesterday, I think the best thing for us to do is to scurry home as fast as we can." So the plans were made according to Patty's wish, and a few days after the Barlow twins returned to their home, a merry party left Vernondale for Spring Lake. This party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Elliott and Marian, Mr. Fairfield, Patty, and Nan. They had all arranged for rooms in the same hotel to which Nan was going, and where her parents were awaiting her. Marlborough House was its name, and very attractive and comfortable it looked to the Vernondale people as they arrived about four o'clock one afternoon in early September. Mr. and Mrs. Allen proved to be charming people who were more than ready to show any courtesies in their power to the Fairfields, who had so kindly entertained Nan. Although an older couple than the Elliotts, they proved to be congenial companions, and after a day or two the whole party felt as if they had known each other all their lives. Acquaintances ripen easily at the seashore, and Patty soon came to the conclusion that she was beginning what was to be one of the pleasantest experiences of her life.