and feed him wiz a 'poon, a
pretty toddlekins?"

"A pretty toddlekins will break your pretty noddlekins," replied Philip.
"Avast there, and heave sponges!" And the conversation ended in a grand
splashing duet executed in two enormous bath-tubs that stood in
different corners of the great room.

It was a merry party that met at breakfast. John Montfort looked round
the table with pleasure, and wondered how he had ever sat here alone,
year after year, when this kind of thing was to be had, apparently for
the asking. Margaret's sweet face, opposite him, was radiant; it struck
Mr. Montfort that he had never seen her look so pretty before. The
delicate rose-flush on her cheek, the light in her eyes, an
indescribable air of gaiety, of lightness, about her whole figure--

"Why, this is what she needed!" said Mr. Montfort to himself. "The
children were all very well; I am all very well myself, for an old
uncle, but children and old uncles are not all that a lassie needs. Ah,
well, it is all as it should be. We remember, Rose!"

Gerald, at Margaret's left hand, was talking eagerly. If her face was
radiant, his was sparkling. For the first time in his life, it is
probable, he seemed to take little heed of his breakfast.

"Do you remember the thunder-storm, Miss Montfort? and the way that
little chap ran around the long corridor? He's going to make a great
runner some day. Cork--very nice little fellow. You say he isn't here
now? I'm sorry! I wanted the Ape to see him."

"The Ape?"

"The Old Un. My brother, Long-leggius Ridiculus. Christian name Philip,
but what has he done that I should call him that?"

Margaret laughed. She did not fully understand, but everything Gerald
said seemed to her funny. "What does he call you?" she asked. "Or do you
invent new names every day? Last night I heard you calling him--what was
it? Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus?"

"It might have been!" said Gerald, with modest pride. "I can 'gleek
upon occasion.' I can also sling a syllable with the next man. It is
only at monosyllables that I draw the line. When I call him Ape, I have
to tack an adjective to it, or things happen. Miss Montfort, you don't
know how glad I was to come. It was awfully kind of Mr. Montfort to ask
us. I've always wanted to come again, and I didn't know when I should
have a chance. There--there isn't any other place like this in the
world, I believe. I've told the Ape a lot about it, and he was keen to
see it, too. What a c