needed for this purpose, the extra area can be
used for a park which will be an ornament to the spot rather than an
eyesore. Therefore, take it altogether, I consider that freshet a
capital thing."

He glanced at Ted who chanced to be standing near by.

"I suppose you, my lad, do not entirely agree with me," added he, a
twinkle gleaming beneath his shaggy brows. "You are thinking of that
playhouse of yours and Laurie's that was carried off by the deluge."

"I am afraid I was, sir."

"Pooh! Nonsense!" blustered the old gentleman. "What's a thing like
that? Besides, Laurie's father proposes to rebuild it for you. Hasn't
he told you?" questioned the man, noticing the surprise in the boy's
face. "Oh, yes, indeed! He is going to put up another house for you;
and judging from his plans, you will find yourself far better off than
you were in the first place for this time he is to give you a real
cottage, not simply a made-over boathouse. Yes, there is to be running
water; a bedroom, study, and kitchenette; to say nothing of a bath and
steam heat. He plans to connect it by piping with the central heating
plant. So you see you will have a regular housekeeping bungalow instead
of a camp."

Ted gasped.

"But--but--I can't let Mr. Fernald do all this for me," he protested.
"It's--it's--too much."

"I shouldn't worry about him, if I were you," smiled the elder man. "It
won't scrimp him, I imagine. Furthermore, it will be an excellent
investment, for should the time ever come when you did not need the
house it could be rented to one of our tenants. He is to put a
foundation under it this time and build it more solidly; and possibly
he may decide to set it a trifle farther back from the water. In any
case, he will see that it is right; you can trust him for that. It will
not be carried away a second time."

"I certainly hope not," Ted agreed. "What a pity it was they did not
have some way of notifying us from Melton! If they had only had a
wireless apparatus----" he broke off thoughtfully.

"I doubt if all the wireless in the world could have saved your little
hut," answered Mr. Fernald kindly. "It was nothing but a pasteboard
house and wireless or no wireless it would have gone anyway. I often
speculate as to how ships ever dared to go to sea before they had the
protection of wireless communication. Ignorance was bliss, I suppose.
They knew nothing about it and therefore did not miss it. When we can
boast no better way we