her Lom."

"Who is Orther Lom?"

"I don't know; only Auntie Marjorie said, she wouldn't be astonished if
Orther Lom was to come and find cousin Marjorie out, even away up here.
It must be Orther Lom."

This was all the information the lawyer could obtain; so he and Marjorie
joined Mr. Bigglethorpe and the other anglers, and talked about making
domestic sardines and smelts of the chub and dace they had caught.

The summons to tea greeted the wanderers before they had had time to
cleanse their hands of fishy odours; consequently Mr. Bigglethorpe and
the lawyer were a minute or two late. They found the man of the
eye-glass seated on one side of Miss Carmichael, and, as she beckoned
the fisherman to the other, she introduced her protege to him as Mr.
Arthur Lamb, a very old friend. Miss Halbert made way for Coristine
beside her, and he congratulated her on the doctor's reappearance at the
table.

"Mr. Coristine," said Miss Carmichael, and the lawyer, with a somewhat
worn society face, looked across.

"Mr. Lamb, who is an old friend of ours, tells me he met you in the
garden, but you did not introduce yourself. Let me introduce you, Mr.
Lamb, Mr. Coristine."

Coristine gave the merest nod of recognition, and went on talking to
Miss Halbert. He thought Perrowne was right; there was some
satisfaction conversing with a girl like that, a girl with no nonsense
about her. The minister's gloves had got fishy, handling Marjorie's
catch, so he had taken them off when preparing himself for tea, and had
left them in his room. Miss Carmichael looked at the burnt hands, and
felt disposed to scold him, but did not dare. Perhaps, he had taken the
gloves off intentionally. She wished that ring of his were not on her
finger. Between Mr. Lamb and Miss Halbert, she felt very uncomfortable,
and knew that Eugene, no, Mr. Coristine, was behaving abominably. The
colonel and his belongings had been so much about the wounded dominie
all afternoon, that Mrs. Carruthers insisted on her right, as a hostess,
to minister to him, while her sister-in law presided in her stead.
Coristine at once rose to help the hostess, and regained his spirits,
while rallying his old friend over the many attentions he was receiving
at the hands of the fair sex. He could hardly believe his eyes and ears
when he beheld the meek and helpless creature who had once been the
redoubtable Wilkinson. How had the mighty fallen! "We'll put you in a
glass case, Wilks, like t