He saw that her eyes were filling. He knew that she liked him; he was doing his best to make her love him. It would be easy for him to advance from brotherly to lover-like affection, and it was quite possible to remain stationary on fraternal regard. This he thought to himself, and he said in his own soul, ’Bravo, Trecarrel! you have not compromised yourself by a word.’ ’And now, dear sister Mirelle,’ he said, with his sweetest smile, ’the thing I desire to know is, What has become of your father’s money?’ She was surprised. He saw it; but he went on quietly, ’You see in what a brotherly and practical spirit I approach your affairs. I want to know exactly how you stand, for—between four eyes be it spoken—I am not satisfied that a certain whitehaired person who shall be nameless is the most prudent man to be intrusted with money. He sank a large sum in Patagonians which might just as well have been sunk in Cranmere pool. If he made a fool of himself with his own money, he may play the fool also with yours. For how long is he your trustee?’ ’For five years. I am eighteen, and I do not come of age till I am twenty-three.’ ’Unless you marry.’ Trecarrel sighed, and looked hard at the distant peaks of Dartmoor. ’I do not think there is anything about my marriage in the will, which I have read, and I know the contents.’ ’Oh!’ said the Captain, and his mouth went down at the corners. ’You do not come into possession at marriage.’ ’I believe not—not till I am three-and-twenty.’ The Captain released the tips of Mirelle’s fingers which he had seized when he put the question. ’Then Tramplara has the entire and uncontrolled disposal of the money for five years, and if you were to marry now you would still have to wait five years till you got it—if you got it, in the end, at all.’ ’I suppose so.’ ’Do you happen to know what the old fellow has invested your money in? I ask as a friend, because I wish to protect your interests, and to advise you what you should do.’ ’I have already had an adviser here—Mr. Herring: he was anxious about the money.’ ’He was, was he?’ Captain Trecarrel drew nearer, with revived interest, and again attempted to possess himself of the hand, but failed. ’Yes, he appeared very anxious.’ ’On what grounds? What possible right had he to inquire about it?’ ’He expressed friendly regard for me.’ ’A sort of brotherly interest?’ inquired the Captain. ’No,’ answered Mirelle, curtly, and drew herself up. The Captain looked hard at her. ’Have you given him any encouragement? Have you allowed him any right to interfere?’ Mirelle’s cheek coloured, and a haughty flash came into her eye. ’Captain Trecarrel, I do not comprehend you.’