The Dancing Mermaid — Ethel Hamill

Captain Elisha Gaylord, leaving a reputation for honesty behind him, had guided his whaling ship, the Lorelei, into many a foreign port…Hong Kong, Tangier, Honolulu…names that still sounded romantic now, a century later -- and the ship and its mermaid figurehead had become a symbol to the Gaylords of their own Yankee integrity.

When the restoration of the Maine village of Port Egypt was first proposed, the Gaylords had been its staunchest backers, and when the Lorelei, restored to its former glory, lay anchored at the water front, the present-day Gaylords knew a deep satisfaction.

For Jill Gaylord, newly engaged to Alan Gibson, who was working during the summer at Gaylord Brothers mail-order firm, life held only one flaw. Her cousin Pandora was due back after a trip abroad -- and Pan, unlike Jill, had inherited none of old Elisha's admirable qualities. When lovely Pandora wanted anything, Pandora usually got it… And Pan, Jill felt certain, was sure to want Alan…

Jill's feeling about Pan was soon realized -- but what Jill had not foreseen was Alan's sudden reluctance to finish his education, so that the long-wished-for partnership with his architect older brother, Barry, could be realized.

It was to Barry that Jill turned for help -- and when Barry misinterpreted her visit, it was more than Jill's pride could bear. Estranged from Alan and rebuffed by Barry, Jill was to find that her own personal battle between what she wanted and what her Yankee conscience told her she should want was only beginning.