."

"Mayhap that is because you are only a girl, Maud," remarked Chester
teasingly.

"Yes," she returned sportively, "if I were only a boy I might be as
silly as the others."

"Does it strike you as very silly, Gracie?" asked Walter.

"Well, no; not for boys," she returned doubtfully, "but rather so for a
man. There are so many other things in which--at least it seems to
me--it would be better worth while to excel."

"Yes; so there are," he agreed with a thoughtful look. "And yet an
occasional bit of sport is a good thing even for a man."

"That is very true," said Harold; "and certainly as true for
brain-workers as for any who toil with their hands."

"Doesn't it seem pleasant to be at home again, Walter?" asked Grace.

"Yes, indeed!" he exclaimed. "There is no place like home--especially
home with mother in it."

"Or with father in it," added Grace as, at that moment, Captain Raymond
joined the circle.

"Such a father as ours," said Lucilla, looking up at him with a smile of
proud, fond affection. He returned it, accepted an offered seat, and
asked Walter if he had been entertaining the company with tales of
college doings and experiences.

"Yes, sir," returned the lad. "I suppose it is the usual thing for a
Freshman to do on coming home at the end of his year."

"Quite; his head being pretty full of them," was the playful rejoinder.
"Well, little--no, young brother--I hope the old tutor has not been
entirely forgotten, in admiration and affection for the new?"

"No, sir; no, indeed! and never will be," returned Walter, speaking with
an energy and earnestness that brought a smile to the captain's lips and
eyes. "I shall show myself strangely ungrateful if I ever forgot the
patience and kindness with which my oldest brother instructed me; and
all for no reward at all."

"Ah! there you are mistaken," said Captain Raymond pleasantly. "It was
reward enough to know that I was helping to fit you for future
usefulness. I hope, my boy, you will live to be an honour to your mother
and a blessing to the world."

"I hope so, sir; it is my ardent wish," Walter said low and earnestly,
giving his mother a most loving look as he spoke.

"And if you trust not in your own strength, but look constantly to God
for help, you will succeed, my son," she responded in low, moved tones.

Just at that moment there were several additions to their group, among
them Captain Keith and Dr. Percival, and the talk turned upon pla