Chapter III: The Sea

"HERE we are, Willie! Now for the sea! How fresh and salt the air feels!"

"Lucy is asleep, papa," said Willie, rubbing his own eyes, and trying to look very wide awake.

"Some one else has been asleep, too, I think," said Mr. Gray, smiling. "Never mind; you will feel lively enough after a good night's rest. It has been a long journey, and you will be glad of your tea, and your bed."

They were now stopping at the station. Mr. Gray stepped out, and lifted Willie and Lucy upon the platform. Then he made a porter bring their boxes into the road, and put them on a fly, while they all got inside.

"Now, Willie, look out," said Mr. Gray, as they drove off.

And Willie did look out. He had never yet seen the sea, and he could not at all fancy what it was like. By-and-bye he saw a gleam of blue between some houses, and clapped his hands.

"Oh, papa! Was that the sea?"

"That was the sea, Willie. There it is again. You did not look in time, did you? But we shall drive along the parade in front of it in a minute, and then you will see it plainly. Here we come! Now look out!"

Willie looked again, and at last said with a little sigh:

"It's very pretty and blue, papa, and very big. I think if it wasn't so big, it would look like our pond at home."

"You will not think so, Willie, when you have seen it with great waves dashing about, and the spray flying in the wind. It is very still to-day. But you will soon change your mind about its being only like a pond."

"Shall I find any shells on the shore?" asked Willie.

"I hope so. Shells are almost always seen on sandy shores. You must dig holes in the sand too, and make hills and towers and all kinds of things."

"But I don't know what to dig with, papa."

"We will soon manage about that," said Mr. Gray, with a smile. "Do you think we could find a spade in the shops for those little fingers?"

"A spade! Oh, thank you, papa. Like what Rogers uses?"

"Not 'quite' so large as that, and it must be of wood. Lucy shall have one too."

"A small one," said Willie, looking down at Lucy's tiny hands.

"Yes—smaller than yours. Nurse will take you out on the shore, and sit and work while you dig, and I hope you will be very happy. Now we must get out. This is to be our home while we are at the sea-side."

Willie looked up at the house. It was not facing the sea, but was some little way up a side street. There was a small garden in front, up which Willie ran the moment he was out of the fly. Then he waited for his mamma, and she took his hand, and led him upstairs to the sitting-room, where the tea-things were laid out. Hats and bonnets were taken off, and sleepy little Lucy woke quite up over her milk and bread and butter. Willie thought he had never been so hungry in his life, and it was a long time before he had done his tea.

Then Lucy was taken off to bed, that she might be quite rested and fresh in the morning. Willie begged hard to go on the shore, and Mr. Gray said he would take him for a little while. So Willie fetched his cap, and they went out, down the street, across the parade, and then over the soft crisp sand.

Willie ran and jumped about, and hunted for shells, and almost shouted aloud with glee. The tide was now coming in, and the water was less smooth than before. Bright dancing waves rolled up, and broke on the beach, and Willie stood close at the water's edge, jumping back just in time to escape a wetting. Once or twice he was very nearly caught.

There were not many shells to be seen, but he found a few, and put them into his pocket to give to Lucy. Like a kind little boy, he thought that as he had had the pleasure of the first walk, Lucy should have the pleasure of the first shells.

"Well, Willie, it is time to think of going home now," said Mr. Gray, at last, and Willie came up at once. "What do you think of the sea now? Is it no better than a pond?"

"Oh, papa, a great great deal. It isn't a bit like a pond now. I never saw such waves!"

"These are very small waves, Willie. Perhaps some day before we leave, you may see some really large ones. Now we must go home, for it is time that little boys should be in bed after such a long journey. In the morning, I hope you will have a nice game on the shore."

Willie gave a wistful look up into his father's face, and Mr. Gray saw what he was thinking of.

"You will want the spades, will you not? We must see what we can do. Now take one more look at the sea, and then we must leave the beach."

Willie did so, and turned away with a sigh of delight, as he said:

"Papa, I think the sea is the best thing in all the world!"

"Wait till you have seen all the world, my boy, before you decide. But I quite agree with you in thinking it a most grand and lovely sight. I have never yet seen anything that I could enjoy more."

"And only think, papa—a month or six weeks here," said Willie, as they walked over the parade. "Such a nice long time! I do hope it will be fine."

"Very likely it will much of the time. Sometimes of course we must expect rain, and then I hope you will bear it with good-temper, and amuse yourself indoors as well as you can. Here we are at the house. Now good-night, and run upstairs to nurse."

Willie did so, and was soon ready for bed. Lucy was asleep, so he kept the shells to give her in the morning, and in a little while he too was asleep and dreaming of the sea.

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