“Papa, the officers are coming here to-morrow to lunch--you don’t mind, do you?--that is, Charlie Somers and Algy Scott. Oh, they are nice enough; they are dreadfully dull at Newport. They want to see the garden and anything there is to see. You know you’re one of the sights of the island, papa.” “That is their fun,” said the old man. “I don’t know what they take me for, these young fellows that are after the girls. Oh, they’re all after the girls; they know they’ve got a good bit of money and so forth, and think their father’s an easy-going old fool as soft as--Wait till we come to the question of settlements, my good ladies, wait till then; they’ll not find me so soft when we get there.” “It is sudden to think of settlements yet, Mr. Tredgold. The Rector, poor man, has got nothing to settle, and as for those boys in the garrison, they never saw the dear girls till to-day.” “Ah, I know what they are after,” said Mr. Tredgold. “My money, that is what they are all after. Talk to me about coming to see over the garden and so forth! Fudge! it is my money they are after; but they’ll find I know a thing or two before it comes to that.” “Papa,” said Stella, “you are just an old suspicious absurd--What do they know about your money? They never heard your name before. Of course they had heard of _me_. The other battalion were all at the Ryde ball, and took notes. They thought I was an American, that shows how little they know about you.” “That means, Stella,” said Miss Mildmay, “everything that is fast and fly-away. I wouldn’t brag of it if I were you.” “It means the fashion,” said Mrs. Shanks. “Dear Stella _is_ like that, with her nice clothes, and her way of rushing at everything, and never minding. Now Katherine is English, no mistake about her--a good daughter, don’t you know--and she’ll make an excellent wife.” “But the man will have to put down his money, piece for piece, before he shall have her, I can tell you,” said the master of the house. “Oh, I’m soft if you like it, and over-indulgent, and let them have all their own way; but there’s not a man in England that stands faster when it comes to that.” Stella gave her sister a look, and a little nod of her head; her eyes danced and her hair waved a little, so light and fluffy it was, with that slight gesture. It seemed to say, We shall see! It said to Katherine, “You might stand that, but it will not happen with me.” The look and the gesture were full of a triumphant defiance. Stella was not afraid that she would ever feel the restraining grip of her father’s hand; and then she thought of that other grip upon her fingers, and shook her shiny hair about her ears more triumphant still. CHAPTER IV.