Mr. Dunbar rarely exercised any parental authority; Abby had always found him indulgent and kind. On this occasion he had been more stern than Abby had believed it possible for him to be. He had insisted upon an apology being made to Margaret, and Abby dared not refuse. It had been a farce, however, for she had offered her apologies under compulsion. At present the relations between her and the "diggers" were coldly civil. Abby would not return to college the next year. She was a poor student, and had cared more for the fun of college life than for the knowledge that she might acquire. It was already arranged that she should travel abroad with a maiden aunt of her mother's. Nell had recovered from her attack of scarlet fever, but Hugh and Roy had both come down with it. They were all convalescent by Commencement time, but the family physician was anxious for a change of air for them all. So, it had been decided that they should again spend the hot weather among the Thousand Isles, as all three of the children were eager to go there. Mr. Alden had talked of going to the seashore, but he found both Fred and Dolly so energetically opposed to the project, that they, too, went back to their cottage at the Thousand Isles. Dick Martin spent a couple of weeks with Fred, and Rob Steele was occasionally sent there on some important errand by Mr. Newby, in whose office he was now reading law. Mr. Newby vibrated between his office and the Islands, and Rob Steele was sent back and forth with papers that needed signing or personal revision. "Father could really get the papers by mail quite as well, I think, Mother," Beth said one evening when the two were having a comfortable talk. "I think so myself, but he probably wants to give the boy a little breathing space. 'Tis rather hot in the city, and a few days here will do him good." "Father is very kind," Beth said demurely, and her stepmother, well as she had come to know Beth, could not tell whether she was particularly pleased or not at Rob's coming. The children gained strength slowly during the summer, but when September came at last, they were brown as nuts and as healthy as country children. Fred and his friends were seniors at Harvard now. Their plans for the future were well formulated. To his father's disappointment, Fred evinced no liking for the law. His tastes ran toward electrical engineering, and with a sigh Mr. Alden resigned all hopes of having his son succeed him in business. [Illustration: "Father could really get the papers by mail quite as well, I think, Mother."]