ouse and into the drawing-room.

Alma and her mother were there, the one writing at a desk, the other
knitting on the sofa, and they rose as my father entered, but he waved
them back to their places.

"Set down, ma'am. Take your seat, mother. I'm only here for a minute to
talk to my gel about her great reception."

"Reception?" said Alma.

"Hasn't she told you about it?" he said, and being answered that I had
not, he gave a rough outline of his project, whereupon Alma, whose
former attitude towards my father had changed to one of flattery and
subservience, lifted her hands and cried:

"How splendid! Such an inspiration! Only think, my love, you were to be
kept bright and cheerful, and what could be better for that purpose?"

In the torment of my soul I urged one objection after another--it would
be expensive, we could not afford it.

"Who asks you to afford it? It's my affair, isn't it?" said my father.

I was unwell, and therefore unable to undertake the hard work of such an
entertainment--but that was the worst of excuses, for Alma jumped in
with an offer of assistance.

"My dearest child," she said, "you know how happy I shall be to help
you. In fact, I'll do all the work and you shall have all the glory."

"There you are, then," cried my father, slapping me on the shoulder, and
then, turning to Alma, he told her to set to work without a day's delay.

"Let everything be done correct even if it costs me a bit of money."

"Yes, sir."

"A rael big thing, ma'am, such as nobody has ever seen before."

"Yes indeed, sir."

"Ask all the big people on the island--Nessy MacLeod shall send you a
list of them."

"I will, sir."

"That'll do for the present--I guess I must be going now, or old Conrad
will be agate of me. So long, gel, so long."

I was silenced, I was helpless, I was ashamed.

I did not know then, what now I know, that, besides the desire of
celebrating the forthcoming birth of an heir, my father had another and
still more secret object--that of throwing dust in the eyes of his
advocates, bankers, and insular councillors, who (having expected him to
make money for them by magic) were beginning to whisper that all was not
well with his financial schemes.

I did not know then, what now I know, that my father was at that moment
the most tragic figure in Ellan except myself, and that, shattered in
health and shaken in fortune, he was indulging in this wild extravagance
equally to assert his sol