me; of riding, boating, and pleasures of all sorts in the holidays.
Marjory's fourteenth birthday came and went, Christmas Day passed, and
another year began. This time the Twelfth Night party was a great
success, and both Marjory and her uncle went to it.

In spite of her happy life, Marjory never lost her longing for her
father. She dreamed of him, planned a future for herself in which he was
always the prominent figure, and determined that if she ever were her
own mistress she would travel from country to country in search of him,
for since the day when Mrs. Forester had quoted her old friend's words,
"A fine fellow Hugh Davidson was. I always feel that he may turn up
again some day," she had never quite lost hope.

Easter fell early that year; the season was very mild, and there were
lovely sunny days for being out of doors when the holidays began.

Maud Forester and her mother were at Braeside again, and the Morison
boys were at home, so the party was a merry one. Herbert's admiration
for Maud still flourished, and he joined the girls in all their doings.

All went well until one day when Alan was taken by his mother to
Morristown to be measured for some new clothes, much to his disgust, for
he would have preferred to sacrifice the clothes rather than one of his
precious holidays. Dr. Hunter had gone there too on business. Before
leaving in the morning he had charged Marjory not to go on the loch
during his absence--not that he expected bad weather, but he never felt
quite comfortable about her going out when he was away, although she was
quite capable of managing the boat. Many a time they had sailed from one
end of the loch to the other, and she had done everything from start to
finish as well as he could have done it himself.

Marjory readily promised; she had quite expected this, for her uncle
never left Heathermuir for a whole day without giving her this
injunction. She was to spend the day at Braeside, and she went down
there after driving her uncle to the station.

When she entered the morning-room she found Mrs. Hilary finishing a late
breakfast, with Mrs. Forester, Blanche, and Maud in attendance. Mrs.
Hilary was saying, "Yes, he's really coming home at last, after being
away more than a year, on the _Campania_, he says--the White Star Line,
you know, or is it the Cunard? I really never remember. One lot always
end in '_ic_,' and the other in '_ia_,' and it is so confusing. It would
be so much better