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 ate a good, hearty dinner, and chatted away all through it, as if she were having the best time ever.

"Now," said Uncle Fred, when we had finished everything else and were still sitting around the table eating nuts and raisins; "I have some news for you. I saved it so as not to interfere with your appetites. Day after to-morrow the whole bunch of us, and some more, are going over to Michigan City on the boat."

I took one look at Bess and then I clapped both hands over my mouth.

"Did you bite on a shell?" asked Aunt Fannie, sympathetically.

"I—you—you can't always tell when there's shells in them," I mumbled. I didn't dare to take my hands down; for the expression on Bess's face hadn't got back to normal yet, and she looked as if she had got beyond her depth and there wasn't a straw in sight.

In just a second I had the corners of my mouth under control. "Put down your feet and walk out, Bess," I said. "The water isn't really deep—you can touch bottom all right if you quit struggling."