hen weather and
wind are suitable, some go boating and sea-fishing. Others go sketching
or botanising. If the weather should become wet, you will find a
library next to this room, a billiard-table in the west wing, and a
smoking-room--which is also a rod and gun-room--in the back premises.
We cannot take the men from their work to-day, so that a deer-drive is
not possible, but that can be done any day. So, gentlemen, think over
it, and make your choice."

"How is Milly this morning?" asked MacRummle, who came down late to
breakfast, as he always did, and consequently missed morning prayers.

"Better, much better than we could have expected. Of course the arm is
inflamed and very painful, but not broken, which is almost a miracle,
considering the height from which she fell. But for you, Mr Barret,
she might have lain there for hours before we found her, and the
consequences might have been very serious. As it is, the doctor says
she will probably be able to leave her room in a few days."

"Come, now, Mac," continued the host, "we have been talking over plans
for the day. What do you intend to do?"

"Try the river," said the old gentleman, with quiet decision, as he
slowly helped himself to the ham and egg that chanced to be in front of
him. "There's a three-pounder, if not a four, which rose in the middle
pool yesterday, and I feel sure of him to-day."

"Why, Mr MacRummle," said Mrs Gordon smilingly, "you have seen that
three-pounder or four-pounder every day for a month past."

"I have, Mrs Gordon; and I hope to see him every day for a month to
come, if I don't catch him to-day!"

"Whatever you do, Mac, don't dive for him," said the laird; "else we
will some day have to fish yourself out of the middle pool. Have
another cut of salmon, Mr Mabberly. In what direction do your tastes
point?"

"I feel inclined to make a lazy day of it and go out with your son
Archie," said Mabberly, "to look at the best views for photographing. I
had intended to photograph a good deal among the Western Isles, this
summer; but my apparatus now lies, with the yacht, at the bottom of the
sea."

"Yes, in company with my sixteen-shooter rifle," said Giles Jackman,
with a rueful countenance.

"Well, gentlemen, I cannot indeed offer you much comfort as regards your
losses, for the sea keeps a powerful hold of its possessions; but you
will find my boy's camera a fairly good one, and there are plenty of dry
plates. It so happ