He'll drown, for I bet you
anything he isn't awake. Look!"
But in a second a dark head appeared which shook itself vigorously, and
a figure made for the other two with great strokes. He was by so much
the best swimmer of the three that he had soon reached them, and though
in all honesty he first swam to the farther shore, yet he touched the
pier very little behind them. Then came a rush for the house, and in
half an hour three fresh-coloured young men came downstairs, whistling
for breakfast.
The breakfast-room was a place to refresh a townsman's senses. Long and
cool and dark, it was simply Lewis's room, and he preferred to entertain
his friends there instead of wandering among unused dining-rooms. It
had windows at each end with old-fashioned folding sashes; and the view
on one side was to a great hill shoulder, fir-clad and deep in heather,
and on the other to the glen below and the shining links of the Avelin.
It was panelled in dark oak, and the furniture was a strange medley.
The deep arm-chairs by the fire and the many pipes savoured of the
smoking-room; the guns, rods, polo sticks, whips, which were stacked or
hung everywhere, and the heads of deer on the walls, gave it an
atmosphere of sport. The pictures were few but good--two water-colours,
a small Raeburn above the fireplace, and half a dozen fine etchings. In
a corner were many old school and college groups--the Eton Ramblers, the
O.
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