he lighting up that evening. Still their present visit was so prolonged
that on leaving they found it time to return to the yacht. They met the
Austins again at the Peristyle, and took them on board in the first boat
load.

The guests were numerous, including all the cousins from Pleasant Plains,
and the three young gentlemen friends--Chester and Frank Dinsmore and Will
Croly. The meal to which they presently sat down, though Captain Raymond
had called it supper, was an excellent dinner of several courses, and
enlivened by pleasant chat, proved most enjoyable to the entire company.

At its conclusion they adjourned to the deck. A pleasant air was stirring,
the sun drawing near his setting, the western sky glowing with brilliant
hues, while the sounds of life on water and land came softly to the ear.

The young people formed one group, the older ones another, conversing
among themselves, mostly in rather subdued tones.

"You have hardly been in America ever since I saw you last?" Lucilla said
enquiringly, addressing Albert Austin.

"Oh, no; we went home shortly upon bidding you good-by after our brief
acquaintance in Minersville," he replied; adding, "And I presume you had
very nearly forgotten us?"

"No," she said; "we have spoken of you occasionally,--papa, Max, and
I,--and I recognized your father the moment I saw him to-day; you also,
though I am not sure that I should have done so had you been alone; for of
course you have changed much more than he has."

"Not more than you have, Miss Raymond," he returned with a look of
undisguised admiration; "yet I knew you instantly, though I saw you before
I perceived that the captain made one of the company you were in."

"Indeed!" she said with a merry little laugh. "I am afraid I hoped I had
grown and improved more than that would seem to imply."

"But you are still as proud as ever of being an American, and as proud of
your Stripes and Stars?" he remarked enquiringly and with an amused smile.

"Yes, most emphatically, yes," she replied, lifting her eyes to the flag
floating overhead, "I still think it the most beautiful banner ever flung
to the breeze."

"And I suppose--from its constant display here, there, and
everywhere--that that must be the idea of Americans in general," remarked
Miss Austin in a slightly sneering tone. "I must say I have--naturally, I
suppose,--a far greater admiration for England's flag, yet I should not
want to see it so ostentatiously di