them all a grand surprise.  The weather was fine, the equinoctials all past, and the sea gently flowing.  Rugs and pillows were laid on the deck, between camp chairs and stools, and, while the bearded lawyer lay propped on the former, with the most beautiful woman on board kneeling beside him, the rest of the company occupied the higher seats.  The ladies worked away at airy nothings, and the gentlemen, Squire included, smoked cigars and pipes, all talking of the stirring events of the past, and forecasting the pleasures of the near future.  Somehow they all seemed to miss little Marjorie, and wondered what sort of time she and the rest of them were having at Bridesdale.

Three months soon passed away.  Mrs. Coristine’s fortune was secured, and transformed into Canadian securities by her legal husband, half being made over to Mrs. Errol.  The minister took his bride to Perth, and introduced her to his friends, who received her as graciously as the Edinburgh people did Mr. Douglas’ queenly wife from Canada.  On Princess Street many a pedestrian stopped to look at the well-matched pair.  Mr. Carruthers looked up his Scotch relations, and then crossed the Irish Sea to inspect the “owld shod,” under Mr. Terry’s proud guidance.  But the great doctors said Mrs. Coristine must take her husband away to the south of France, to the Riviera, perhaps even to Algeria, for the winter.  Mr. Douglas, who was like a brother, saw them safely established at Mentone, and returned to England in time to see the Flanders’ five on board their steamer at Liverpool, laden with presents for the children and the servants, the Thomases and the Perrownes, not forgetting Mr. Bigglethorpe and Mr. Bangs.  Three more months of winter passed at Bridesdale, then the brief spring, and at length summer came round in all its glory.  Timotheus and his men had cleared the encampment of its scorched trees, had put many acres into crop, and had built the farm house on the site of the burnt buildings, into which he and his blooming wife had moved, because the Wilkinsons and the Mortons were coming to the chalet in July.  The Bridesdale people heard that the former dominie had not been idle, but, by means of his geological knowledge, had discovered iron and lead mines, which were already yielding him a revenue.  Mrs. Errol brought them a letter from Marjorie, saying that Eugene was quite restored, and that they would be home early in July, bringing that dear old lady, Eugene’s mother, with them.  Correspondence had also been going on between the Wilkinsons and the Coristines on both sides of the houses, and Mr. Terry seemed to be included in the circle.  One fine July morning he asked for the loan of the waggonette and set off to town, whence he returned in the afternoon, with three ladies and a coloured ladies’ maid, attended by a gentleman and his servant on horseback.  Strange to say, the Errols, the Perrownes, the newly-married Bangs, and Mr. Bigglethorpe, were at Bridesdale.  Marjorie’s