This afternoon, however, she was not on dress parade. Dressed in her bathing uniform she reclined upon the sands in company with several companions likewise attired and listened eagerly to the comments of two young ladies who had made an important discovery. "He came this morning, girls," said Betty Lowden, impressively, "and he's just the cutest thing that ever came off from the boat. Such eyes, my dears!--and such lovely fluffy hair--" "And the air of a real gentleman, girls," broke in Mary Newton; "you couldn't mistake him anywhere; and before we passed him he looked at me twice!" "No dear, once at the weather signal and once at you," corrected Betty. "I noticed especially, for afterward he stared at me a whole minute." "Why, you mean, disagreeable--" "Seems to me," remarked little Susie, quietly, "that it's a bit of good luck to have any sort of a young man drop down upon us so early in the season. I'm told they're scarce enough at any time in Tamawaca, so I didn't expect to meet a real Charles Augustus for a whole month yet." "His name is James--James Ingram. Mary and I ran to look at the hotel register, and he's the only man that arrived today." "And you haven't met him yet, either," suggested Mary, with an exasperating air of proprietorship. "No?" said Susie, demurely, as she dipped her hands into the sands and let the shining grains run through her fingers. "But," glancing dreamily over the heads of the others, "I expect to meet him--within the next half hour." "Oh, Susie!" "How absurd!" "I'll bet you the sundaes for the crowd, Betty, that I'll be able to introduce him to all of you in half an hour from this second." "And you've never met him before?" suspiciously. "Never." "You must be crazy," said the heiress, scornfully. "Don't turn around quickly--take your time, Mary. But just let me know if that's James," continued the girl, in a soft voice. They gave a jump, then, and every one of them stared ruthlessly. They saw a tall young man come down the walk at a swinging stride, glance hungrily at the sparkling waves, and then enter "Wilder's Bathing Establishment," which stood near by, at the water's edge. "It _must_ be him!" gasped the heiress. "It _is_ him!" cried Betty, triumphantly. "Isn't he splendid?" "Say, girls," observed Gladys McGowan, "let's take Susie's bet. It'll be worth a round of sundaes to meet our Jim right away, without losing precious time." "Half an hour, Susie?" "Half an hour at the most, girls." "Then it's a go! How will you manage it?" Susie still played with the sands, while the others watched her nervously. She was a tiny thing, and not especially beautiful, but the girls liked her because she was "good fun" and exhibited a rare cleverness at times. All they knew of her history was that Susie was visiting at the Carleton cottage. "You'll help me, girls?" enquired the adventurous one. "Of course. But what's your plan, dear?" "Wait."