A Flying Machine and What Came of It Miss Stuart's Arrival Dull Days Eddying Currents An Invitation A Dance at Crescent Beach Helen is Puzzled It was only my Imagination The "Vortex" Departs A Rift in the Clouds A Cablegram Peace on Earth—Good Will to Men A COLONY OF GIRLS. 1 1 CHAPTER I. THE LAWRENCES AND OTHERS. "I cannot understand why the children do not return from the beach. They have been gone so long." "None too long," sighed Nathalie Lawrence, swinging lazily to and fro in a hammock which was hung across one end of the veranda. "What a heaven it is without them. I declare, Helen," she continued, addressing her sister in aggrieved tone, "we do get a lot of those children, somehow or other. For my part, I cannot see why you let them stay about with us all the time, when they are a thousand times better off with Mary," and she gave a vindictive tug at a rope