ly saw some hundreds of yards down it,
but the prospect served to convince him that his erratic aunt was late.

"If my wishes had any effect," said George, "at this moment I should be
having iced champagne." And he cast a longing eye to the hampers.

"You won't get any," said Lewis. "We are not sybarites in this
glen, and our drinks are the drinks of simple folk. Do you
remember Cranstoun? I once went stalking with him, and we had
_pate-de-foie-gras_ for luncheon away up on the side of a rugged
mountain. That sort of thing sets my teeth on edge."

"Honest man!" cried George. "But here are your friends, and you had
better stir yourself and make them welcome."

Five very cool and leisurely beings were coming up the hill-path, for,
having driven to above the village, they had had an easy walk of
scarcely half a mile. Lewis's eye sought out a slight figure behind the
others, a mere gleam of pink and white. As she stepped out from the
path to the heather his eye was quick to seize her exquisite grace.
Other women arrayed themselves in loose and floating raiment, ribbons
and what not; but here was one who knew her daintiness, and made no
effort to cloak it. Trim, cool, and sweet, the coils of bright hair
above the white frock catching the noon sun--surely a lady to pray for
and toil for, one made for no facile wooing or easy conquest.

Lewis advanced to Mr. Stocks as soon as he had welcomed his aunt, and
shook hands cordially. "We seem to have lost sight of each other during
the last few days. I never congratulated you enough, but you probably
understood that my head was full of other things. You fought
splendidly, and I can't say I regret the issue. You will do much better
than I ever could."

Mr. Stocks smiled happily. The wheel of his fortunes was bringing him
very near the top. All the way up he had had Alice for a companion; and
that young woman, happy from a wholly different cause, had been
wonderfully gracious. He felt himself on Mr. Lewis Haystoun's level at
last, and the baffling sense of being on a different plane, which he had
always experienced in his company, was gone, he hoped, for ever. So he
became frank and confidential, forgot the pomp of his talk and his
inevitable principles, and assisted in laying lunch.

Lady Manorwater drove her nephew into a corner.

"Where have you been. Lewis, all these days? If you had been anybody
else, I should have said you were sulking. I must speak to you
seriously. Do