will stand in the centre of my estate. I shall retire from practice
in a few years, and spend my last days here. We all have to go back
to the soil and I am going to make my progress gradual."

"Won't you find it rather dull here after so long an active life in
the city?"

"Not dull, but quiet," was the dignified response. "I shall pass my
time surveying the beauties of Nature to which, to my discredit, I
have been so long oblivious; then, I shall commune with the great
minds in literature, and read the latest law reports."

Quincy wondered whether Nature, literature, or law would be his
father's most appreciated relaxation, but inclined to the latter.

The next morning Maude exclaimed: "Let's have some fun. What shall we
do?"

"There are three canoes in the boat house," said Quincy, "why not a
row on the pond?"

"Fine!" cried Maude. "Quincy, you are a man of ideas."

Captain Hornaby had asked Florence to go with him and she had
willingly consented. This emboldened Harry Merry, who had come down
from the State House with the Governor's correspondence, and he,
rather bashfully, requested Maude's company in the third canoe.

"Can you swim?" she asked.