ard Catherine saying so last night, so I suppose it's true."

"It's perfectly true, and I can tell you who it was," answered Lizzie.
"It was the eldest son of Lord Glyncraig. He was fishing here, and the
boat got upset. It was the most dreadful tragedy. He was such a fine,
promising young fellow, and had only been married quite a short time. He
was the heir, too, which made it worse."

"But there are other sons, aren't there?" asked Ulyth.

"Yes, but he was the flower of the family. The rest are no good. The
second son, the present heir, is a helpless invalid, the third is in a
sanatorium for consumption, and the fourth was the proverbial prodigal,
and disappeared. If Lord Glyncraig knows where he is, nobody else does."

"Hadn't the one who was drowned any children?"

"Only a girl. The second and third aren't married."

"Then will the estate have to go to the prodigal in the end?"

"I suppose so, if he's alive, and turns up to claim it."

"Peers have their troubles as much as commoners," commented Ulyth. "I've
never heard this before. I'm sorry for Lord Glyncraig. Plas Cafn is too
good to go to a prodigal."

"Yet prodigals sometimes turn out better than elder brothers, if we
accept the parable," remarked Rona, throwing stones into the water as
viciously as if she were aiming at an enemy.

"Don't!" said Ulyth. "You'll disturb the trout, and Mrs. Arnold wants to
fish this afternoon. Rona, do stop! Let's go down to the edge again, and
try and find some bog bean. You'll get a proficiency badge if you can
show twenty specimens of wild flowers and name them. Yes, I won mine
last year, and so did Lizzie."

"I'd rather win a proficiency badge for shooting," grunted Rona. "Why
can't Teddie let us get up a ladies' rifle corps?"

"Only wish she would, just! It would be prime," agreed the others.

Dinner was ready by twelve o'clock--not at all too early for a company
that had breakfasted at seven. Despite the purloining of the leg of
mutton there was enough to go round, and everybody decided that the
cooks deserved proficiency badges. The servers also did their work
promptly, and removed plates and dishes with the maximum of speed and
the minimum of clatter. By half-past one everything was washed up and
polished, and the kitchen department in apple-pie order.

"I'm afraid we may have rain," said Miss Teddington, looking anxiously
at the sky, which was now completely overcast with clouds.

"One often gets a shower am