he party had assembled in his field, and he had a host's
duties to perform. His father's friends came round him, glad to see that
he had returned to the Court; elderly men proffered advice about this
matter and that, taking it for granted that he would be a wanderer no
more; matrons regarded him with motherly eyes. And Elsie silently
thought that he looked like a prince upon his own borders, bidding them
all welcome.

Lily Danforth, with two girl friends from the other side of the county,
was sitting near her. The men moved about helping everybody, supplying
their own needs in a rambling fashion. It was altogether a gay, informal
kind of affair.

"I suppose it must be true," one of the girls said. "It was Henry who
told us the news. He said that her horses bolted, and Mr. Wayne stopped
them, and then it turned out that they had heard of each other for
years. Such a story can have but one ending."

"I think the ending is pretty certain," Lily answered with gay
confidence. "In fact, he has confessed as much to my father. We are all
delighted. She is charming; and we were afraid he would settle down as a
confirmed bachelor, or not settle at all."

"She is really pretty, and so distinguished looking," the other girl
joined in. "I hope she'll give no end of balls at the Court. Just look
at her now!"

Involuntarily following the direction of the speaker's glance, Elsie saw
Mrs. Verdon and Arnold. He was putting something into her plate, and she
was gazing up at him with eyes that seemed no longer wanting in colour
and expression. Whether he returned that gaze or not, Elsie, at the
moment, could not tell. But, being a woman in love, she jumped to the
conclusion that he did.

Moreover, there were Lily's words to ring in her ears like a chime: "In
fact, he has confessed as much to my father."

A sudden heart-sinking made her inexpressibly weary of her surroundings,
and then she rallied, angry with herself--rallied just in time to see
Jamie taking a second plateful of cherry-tart.

"Not a bit more, little man," she said resolutely. "Everybody else has
finished. You wouldn't like to sit here and eat all alone. I think we
had better get up and come away from the dishes."

"I want to go in the boat; Mr. Wayne said I might."

Jamie really felt that he had had enough, and the boat at this moment
was better than the tart.

"Well, dear, you shall go. We'll walk down to the river-side."

There was an island on the river, w