m--she came gaily into the room where her
husband and Margaret were at breakfast, her face all smiles,
her figure clothed in a jaunty walking dress which fitted her to
perfection. Thayor looked up from his coffee and bacon; he thought he
had never seen her look so pretty.

"Why, Alice!" he exclaimed, all his love for her in his eyes.

"Yes--I don't wonder you are astonished," she said, regarding them
both mischievously. "The day is too glorious to breakfast in bed;
besides, I've slept like a top. Sam, the camp is exceedingly pretty,"
she went on, as Blakeman ceremoniously pushed a chair beneath her and
hurriedly laid the unexpected cover.

"And now may I ask where you two gad-abouts are going?" she inquired,
noticing Margaret's short skirt and Sam in a pair of stout tramping
boots.

"To a pond, mother--the nearest, I believe. Think of it--we have four
of them," announced Margaret proudly.

"Then I'm going too," declared her mother.

"Good!" cried Thayor. "Holcomb says he can easily take us there and
back in time for luncheon."

Alice turned to her husband, and patting the back of his hand, said:

"Sam, you'll forgive me for my lack of enthusiasm since I came, won't
you? I was really ill; the heat was something frightful coming up."
The tone of her voice was captivating.

Thayor covered her hand with his own.

"Of course I will--you were tired out, dear--that was all. Hurry up
and drink your coffee," he continued, looking at the clock over the
chimney-piece in the breakfast room; "Holcomb is waiting for us. But
put on your heaviest boots, Alice, before you start; the trail is apt
to be damp in places after the misty night. We are lucky not to have
waked up in a drizzling rain."

Margaret looked across the table at her mother:

"Oh, what a night it was!" she burst out. "Could there be anything
more beautiful than the wilderness in the moonlight? It really seemed
a sin to go to bed. I hope you saw it too--I was coming to wake you,
it was so lovely."

"And so I gather," returned Alice with a smile, "that you went to bed
very late."

"Yes, I did," confessed Margaret; "and so I have every night since we
came--never have I seen anything so grand as the tumbling water. Oh,
I just love it!" and she laid her little hand in her father's as a
silent tribute to his generosity in giving it to her.

The breakfast hurriedly finished, Thayor went out to the veranda and
lighted a long, slim cigar. He felt like a man w