y for eighteen months, beyond the reach of letters and
telegrams for the greater part of the time; and during his absence Mrs.
Ogilvie, whose health for some months had been feeble, went to her
native land of Spain for warmth and sunshine, travelling by sea to
Lisbon for the sake of the voyage. From her Spanish mother she had
inherited a property at Granada, and it was from there that she was
able to write and tell her husband that she was the mother of a son.
Colonel Ogilvie was in an inaccessible region when that event happened,
and it was not until he was on his return journey home that he heard
the good news. Two years later another child, Peter, was born; and,
ardently as her firstborn had been desired, Mrs. Ogilvie showered by
far the greater part of her affection upon the younger child.
Everything had to give way to Peter, and she resented that even such
baby privileges as a child of tender years can receive were bestowed
upon the elder son and heir. Her health gave cause for anxiety for
some time after Peter was born, and her mental state and the condition
of her nerves accounted for the partiality which she showed for her
younger child.

The colonel, however, was always a little jealous for the fair-haired
boy who had come to his mother while he was far away; and by his will,
which he made at this time, he secured an almost extravagant provision
for Edward. He could well-nigh forgive his nephews now for their
obtrusive existence in the world, and he settled down to enjoy his
property with the happy knowledge that he had two fine sturdy boys to
whom to leave it. He was still in the prime of life, and not all the
dangers and privations which he had suffered seemed to have undermined
his splendid constitution. But a drive home in an open dogcart, after;
speaking in an overheated hall at a political meeting, brought on a
chill and pneumonia of which very suddenly he died. His loss was
sincerely and deeply regretted in a neighbourhood where he was both
admired and loved for his many good qualities, and a monument in
Culversham parish church tells of his excellence as a landlord and his
intrepid courage as an explorer.

Mrs. Ogilvie's health being still precarious, she went abroad for the
winter after her husband's death to look into some matters concerning
her own property, and to try to court health in the sunny vine-growing
country. And there, in a little remote Spanish village by the sea
which she loved