occasional run out to Coll or Tiree in that old tub of ours, with a
brisk sou'-wester blowing across--that would put some mettle into you.
Mind you, you won't have any grand banquets at Castle Dare. I think it
is hard on the poor old mother that she should have all the pinching,
and none of the squandering; but women seem to have rather a liking for
these sacrifices, and both she and Janet are very proud of the family
name; I believe they would live on sea-weed for a year if only their
representative in London could take Buckingham Palace for the season.
And Hamish--don't you remember Hamish?--he will give you a hearty
welcome to Dare, and he will tell you the truth about any salmon or stag
you may kill, though he was never known to come within five pounds of
the real weight of any big salmon I ever caught. Now then, what do you
say?"

"Ah, it is all very well," said Lieutenant Ogilvie. "If we could all get
what we want, there would scarcely be an officer in Aldershot Camp on
the 12th of August. But I must say there are some capitally good fellows
in our mess--and it isn't every one gets the chance you offer me--and
there's none of the dog-in-the-manger feeling about them: in short. I do
believe, Macleod, that I could get off for a week or so about the 20th."

"The 20th? So be it. Then you will have the blackcock added in."

"When do you leave?"

"On the 1st of August--the morning after my garden party. You must come
to it, Ogilvie. Lady Beauregard has persuaded her husband to put off
their going to Ireland for three days in order to come. And I have got
old Admiral Maitland coming--with his stories of the press-gang, and of
Nelson, and of the raids on the merchant-ships for officers for the