Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit
to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy
event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest
in their new surroundings. The young ladies were especially
enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and
grounds, while Mrs. Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament
than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much
finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her
part.

"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming
from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of
ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside
her cousin. "I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in
the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart."

"Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde
like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be
yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at
least, till you are married, you know."

"That is a very reckless declaration on your part, for I am likely
never to marry," responded Miss Carleton, lightly. She was an
orphan and an heiress, but had a home in the family of William
Mainwaring Thornton, who was her uncle and guardian.

Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled
languidly. She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold,
gray eyes. "You seem to ignore the fact," she said, "that our cousin
is likely to live in the exclusive enjoyment of his home for many