I am certainly under great obligations to you, Harold,"
Robert said with feeling, as he and Harold grasped hands with cousinly
warmth. "You could hardly have done me a greater service."

"Don't talk of obligations," said Harold with emotion. "Dick and you
and I are not only all members of the same profession, but all near
kinsmen; so that Dick had a double and strong claim upon me and my
services."

"And we all think he needs a change," said Maud, standing near, "and
so, by Cousin Elsie's kind invitation, we are going with her and the
rest, in the captain's yacht, to visit them and our old homes; then on
farther North to the seashore."

"The very best thing that could be done, I think," said Robert; "it
certainly is Dick's turn to have a holiday while I stay and attend to
our practice."

The mirth, jollity, and feasting that followed, filling up the rest of
the day, were very similar to those of the day of the wedding, weeks
before.

Dr. Percival was still feeble, and Mrs. Travilla had some arrangements
to make in regard to the conduct of affairs at Viamede after her
departure, which together made it best to delay for a few days. But at
length all was ready, the good-byes were said, and the return journey
to their northern homes was begun.

As had been planned Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore took the cars at New
Orleans, while the _Dolphin_, bearing the remaining members of their
party, passed from west to east along the Gulf of Mexico, around the
southern coast of Florida and up its eastern coast and that of the
Carolinas. Quite a voyage, but neither tedious nor tiresome to the
passengers, so pleasant did they find each other's society and the
variety of books and sports provided for their entertainment.

During the greater part of the voyage the weather was pleasant enough
to allow them to spend the most of their days upon deck, where they
could walk about or sit and chat beneath an awning.

"Grandma," said little Elsie, coming to Mrs. Travilla's side one
morning as she sat on deck busied with a bit of fancy work, "would it
trouble you to talk to Ned and me a little while?"

"No, dear," was the smiling reply, "but what is it that you wish to
hear from me?"

"Something about General Marion, grandma, if you please. I know a
little about him and admire him very much indeed. He was a South
Carolina man, I know, and when I heard papa say a while ago that we
were on the South Carolina coast, it made me think of Marion a