n. She was there too, with Mrs. Perkins and Gladys. But
he had to turn his back on the pretty group and join his father at the
table spread for the Sons of Scotland. Dr. Leslie stood up at the head
of it, his white hair ruffled by the lake breeze, and asked a blessing
on the feast. And when the Scotchmen had put on their bonnets again
and were seated the Piper tuned up once more and swept around the
tables playing a fine strathspey. Lawyer Ed had a seat near the head
of the table but he was too happy to sit still and kept it only at
intervals. He ran up and down the tables, darted away to this group
and that, taking a bite here and a drink there, until Dr. Blair
declared that Ed had eaten seven different and separate meals by the
time the tables were cleared away.

He stopped at a little group seated around a white table cloth laid
upon the grass, to inquire if they would like some more hot water.

"No," said Mrs. Captain Willoughby, whose party it was. "We've plenty.
We've been in hot water, in fact, ever since we started. Annabel and I
are having a dispute we want settled. Come here, Edward, I'm sure you
can decide."

"It's perfect nonsense," broke in Miss Annabel. "Leslie is no more
likely to marry him than you are, Margaret!"

"Marry whom?" asked Lawyer Ed eagerly, "Me?"

Miss Annabel screamed and said he was perfectly dreadful, but Mrs.
Willoughby broke in.

"No, not you, you conceited thing, but your partner. I thought Leslie
claimed him as her property. She practically told the Baldwin girls
she intended to marry Roderick McRae. And now she's left him and gone
off to be a nurse."

Miss Annabel's fair face flushed hotly. "How utterly preposterous.
Why, if you lived at Rosemount you'd know whom Mr. McRae would be
likely to marry. As for Leslie, she never cared any more for him than
you did. You know how she loves fun. She was just enjoying herself.
I admit that she might have found a better way of putting in the time,
but it was only a girl's nonsense. I was just dreadful that way myself
when I was Leslie's age, a few years ago."

"Indeed you were, Annabel," cried Lawyer Ed, scenting danger and wisely
steering to a safer subject, "You were a dreadful flirt. Many a heart
you broke and I am afraid you haven't reformed either."

This put the lady into a good humour at once. She laughed gaily,
confessing that she was really awfully giddy she knew, but she could
not help it. And Mrs. Capt