I am talking to a very dear friend of mine , '' Rachel answered gravely . `` Silly child , '' laughed her mother , half tolerantly , half disapprovingly . Two years later something wonderful had happened to Rachel . One summer afternoon she had gone to the harbor with several of her little playmates . Such a jaunt was a rare treat to the child , for Isabella Spencer seldom allowed her to go from home with anybody but herself . And Isabella was not an entertaining companion . Rachel never particularly enjoyed an outing with her mother . The children wandered far along the shore ; at last they came to a place that Rachel had never seen before . It was a shallow cove where the waters purred on the yellow sands . Beyond it , the sea was laughing and flashing and preening and alluring , like a beautiful , coquettish woman . Outside , the wind was boisterous and rollicking ; here , it was reverent and gentle . A white boat was hauled up on the skids , and there was a queer little house close down to the sands , like a big shell tossed up by the waves . Rachel looked on it all with secret delight ; she , too , loved the lonely places of sea and shore , as her father had done . She wanted to linger awhile in this dear spot and revel in it . `` I 'm tired , girls , '' she announced . `` I 'm going to stay here and rest for a spell . I do n't want to go to Gull Point . You go on yourselves ; I 'll wait for you here . '' `` All alone ? '' asked Carrie Bell , wonderingly .
`` I 'm not so afraid XXXXX being alone as some people are , '' said Rachel , with dignity .
Beyond along as before by in of on to with