ertrude, smiling. "It is only three
years since you were with us at home for two or three weeks. I remember
you perfectly."

"Only three years!" murmured Mr. Belleville. "Is it possible? but what
momentous years! The change from the _petite fille_, the charming child,
to the woman, the--but I must not say too much!"

"You'll burn your bloom--your boots, if you stand so near the fire!"
said Gerald, in a growl so threatening that Margaret looked up
startled.

"_Your_ boots, dear fellow!" Mr. Belleville corrected him. "Right! I am
a little near the cheerful blaze. I am a fire-worshipper, you know; oh,
very, very, very!"

"Boys, you'd better see to the boats before you go to bed!" said Mr.
Merryweather, speaking for the first time since his greeting of the
newcomer.

"All right, sir!" said the twins, rising with alacrity. "Jack, will you
come along?"

"Always thoughtful, Cousin Miles!" said Mr. Belleville. "Always the prop
of the family! so unchanged!"

Mr. Merryweather's reply was inarticulate, and its tone caused his wife
to begin hastily a series of inquiries for the visitor's family.

The twins and Jack Ferrers walked slowly down the slip in the rain. No
one spoke till they reached the float; then Gerald said slowly:
"Sapolio--Saccarappa--Sarcophagus--_Squedunk_!"

"Feel better?" asked his brother, sympathetically.

"There is one thing," said Gerald, still speaking slowly and
emphatically, "that I wish, in this connection, distinctly understood.
Indoors he is safe: hospitality--salt--Arabs--that kind of thing. But if
in the immediate proximity of the cleansing flood"--he waved his hand
toward the lake--"he continues to patronize the parents, in he goes! I
have spoken!"

"I should not presume to restrain my half-hour elder!" said Phil. "Jack,
I'm afraid we shall have to put this curled darling in your tent. It's
only for the night, fortunately."

"Oh! of course! delighted!" said Jack, somewhat embarrassed.

"Very, very, very, eh?" said Phil. "Oh! what's the use of making
believe, with any one we know so well as you? It's a nuisance, and we
don't pretend it isn't."

"Mark my words, John Ferrers!" broke in Gerald. "We mean to be civil to
this youth. He is our second cousin, and we know it. He is also a
blooming, blossoming, burgeoning Ass, and he doesn't know it. They
seldom do. We mean, I say, to be civil to him, barring patronage of the
parents. He has been our thorn, and we have borne him--at interval