ly; "I should
decide upon Mr. Lancaster without the necessity of any questions or
deliberations."

"But he is not a candidate," said Olive; "he has been ruled out.
However," she added with a little laugh, "nothing can be done just now,
for they have not all entered themselves in the competition; Mr.
Hemphill has not proposed yet."

At that instant the rest of the family joined them on their way to
luncheon.

The meal was scarcely over when Olive disappeared up-stairs, but soon
came down attired in a blue sailor suit, which she had not before worn
at Broadstone, and although the ladies of that house had been astonished
at the number of costumes this navy girl carried in her unostentatious
baggage, this was a new surprise to them.

"Mr. Hemphill and I are going boating," said Olive to Mrs. Easterfield.

"Olive!" exclaimed the other.

"What is there astonishing about it?" asked the girl. "I have been out
boating with Mr. Locker, and it did not amaze you. You need not be
afraid; Mr. Hemphill says he has had a good deal of practise in rowing,
and if he does not understand the management of a boat I am sure I do.
It is only for an hour, and we shall be ready for anything that the rest
of you are going to do this afternoon."

With this, away she went, skipping over the rocks and grass, down to the
river's edge, followed by Mr. Hemphill, who could scarcely believe he
was in a world of common people and common things, while he, in turn,
was followed by the mental anathemas of a poet and a diplomat.

_CHAPTER XIX_

_The Captain and Dick Lancaster desert the Toll-Gate._

When Captain Asher, in an angry mood, left his young friend and guest
and went out into his barnyard and his fields in order to quiet his soul
by the consideration of agricultural subjects, he met with but little
success. He looked at his pigs, but he did not notice their plump
condition; he glanced at his two cows, cropping the grass in the little
meadow, but it did not impress him that they also were in fine
condition; nor did he care whether the pasture were good or not. He
looked at this; and he looked at that; and then he folded his arms and
looked at the distant mountains. Suddenly he turned on his heel, walked
straight to the stable, harnessed his mare to the buggy, and, without
saying a word to anybody, drove out of the gate, and on to Glenford.

Dick Lancaster, who was in the arbor, looked in amazement after the
captain's departing b