Her father looked vexed. He knew how much his ailing wife enjoyed fresh eggs, and how seldom she allowed herself one, but he could not very well express his feelings just when Mona had come back to her home after her long absence, so he only laughed a little ruefully, and said, "Same as ever, Mona! Same as ever!" But, to his surprise, tears welled up into Mona's eyes. "I--I didn't mean to be," she said tremulously. "I meant to try to be careful--but I--I've done nothing but break things ever since I came. You--you'll be wishing you had never had me home." "We shan't do that, I know," said Lucy kindly. "There's some days when one seems to break everything one touches--but they don't happen often. Now I'll make the tea. I'm sure we all want some. Come, Peter, and take your own chair. There's no moving around the kitchen till we've put you in your corner. Mona, will you sit in the window?" "I think I ought to stand," said Mona tragically. "I've sat down once too often already." At which they all burst out laughing, and drew round the table in the happiest of spirits. CHAPTER III. From the moment she lay down in her little white bed, Mona had slept the whole night through. She had risen early the day before--early at least, for her, for her grandmother always got up first, and lighted the fire and swept the kitchen before she called Mona, who got down, as a rule, in time to sit down to the breakfast her grandmother had got ready for her. On this first morning in her home she woke of her own accord, and half-waking, half-sleeping, and with not a thought of getting up, she turned over and was about to snuggle down into the cosy warmth again, when across her drowsy eyes flashed the light from her sunny window. "Why, how does the window get over there?" she asked herself, and then recollection came pouring over her, and sleepiness vanished, for life seemed suddenly very pleasant and interesting, and full of things to do, and see, and think about. Presently the clock in the church-tower struck seven. "Only seven! Then I've got another hour before I need get up! But I'll just have a look out to see what it all looks like. How funny it seems to be back again!" She slipped out of bed and across the floor to draw back the curtains. Outside the narrow street stretched sunny and deserted. The garden, drenched with dew, was bathed in sunshine too. But it was not on the garden or the street that her eyes lingered, but on the sea beyond the low stone wall on the opposite side of the way. Deep blue it stretched, its bosom gently heaving, blue as the sky above, and the jewels with which its bosom was decked flashed and sparkled in the morning sunshine. "Oh-h-h!" gasped Mona. "Oh-h-h! I don't know how anyone can ever live away from the sea!"