“Yes; so there are,” he agreed with a thoughtful look.  “And yet an occasional bit of sport is a good thing even for a man.”

“That is very true,” said Harold; “and certainly as true for brain-workers as for any who toil with their hands.”

“Doesn’t it seem pleasant to be at home again, Walter?” asked Grace.

“Yes, indeed!” he exclaimed.  “There is no place like home—­especially home with mother in it.”

“Or with father in it,” added Grace as, at that moment, Captain Raymond joined the circle.

“Such a father as ours,” said Lucilla, looking up at him with a smile of proud, fond affection.  He returned it, accepted an offered seat, and asked Walter if he had been entertaining the company with tales of college doings and experiences.

“Yes, sir,” returned the lad.  “I suppose it is the usual thing for a Freshman to do on coming home at the end of his year.”

“Quite; his head being pretty full of them,” was the playful rejoinder.  “Well, little—­no, young brother—­I hope the old tutor has not been entirely forgotten, in admiration and affection for the new?”

“No, sir; no, indeed! and never will be,” returned Walter, speaking with an energy and earnestness that brought a smile to the captain’s lips and eyes.  “I shall show myself strangely ungrateful if I ever forgot the patience and kindness with which my oldest brother instructed me; and all for no reward at all.”

“Ah! there you are mistaken,” said Captain Raymond pleasantly.  “It was reward enough to know that I was helping to fit you for future usefulness.  I hope, my boy, you will live to be an honour to your mother and a blessing to the world.”

“I hope so, sir; it is my ardent wish,” Walter said low and earnestly, giving his mother a most loving look as he spoke.

“And if you trust not in your own strength, but look constantly to God for help, you will succeed, my son,” she responded in low, moved tones.

Just at that moment there were several additions to their group, among them Captain Keith and Dr. Percival, and the talk turned upon plans for the next few days, and after that for the summer.  Most of the relatives from a distance would linger in that neighbourhood for a week or more, and entertainments of one kind and another would be given by those residents there.  The Oaks, The Laurels, Fairview, Woodburn, Roselands, and Beechwood would have their turns.  After that must come the inevitable breaking up and scattering of guests to their own homes or some summer resort, while most of the dwellers in that region would go northward in search of a cooler climate in which to pass the heated term.  But it was not deemed necessary to settle it all now; only to arrange on which day each estate would be the scene of entertainment.  It took a good deal of consultation, mingled with merry jests and happy laughter, to settle all that.  Then there was a general leave taking and scattering to their homes—­temporary or settled.