Such a pleasant room, with bright, cheerful paper chintz-covered furniture, and the white cloth of the table covered with hearty country fare. Mrs. Belswin took her seat at the head of the table to pour out the coffee, and Kaituna sat at the side, looking over the bunch of homely flowers, brilliant among the dishes, out on to the fair country beyond. By the side of her plate Kaituna found a letter with the New Zealand postmark on it, and, knowing it came from her father, opened it at once. "Papa will be back in three months," she said, when she had finished reading it. "His business will not take him so long as he expected." "What is the business, dear?" asked Mrs. Belswin, with her face bent over her plate. "Selling land. You know, my mother brought him a good deal of property, and he is now going to sell it." "Going to sell it!" reiterated Mrs. Belswin, in angry surprise. "Why is he going to do that?" Kaituna was rather astonished at her tone, on seeing which Mrs. Belswin hastened to excuse herself. "I beg your pardon, my dear," she said apologetically, "but I thought land in the colony was so very valuable?" "So it is; but papa desires to establish himself in England altogether now that he has come in for the title, so he wishes to sell his New Zealand property and invest the money in some other way; besides the value of property in the colony has decreased of late years." "You seem to be well up in the subject, Kaituna." "I could hardly help being so! Papa was always talking about the Government and their dealings with the land. You see, Mrs. Belswin, politics with us are more domestic than here. In England they deal with kings and governments, but there we attend to the welfare of the people--the parcelling out of the land, and all those kinds of things. I'm afraid I've got but a hazy idea of the true facts of the case, but you understand what I mean." "Oh, I understand," replied Mrs. Belswin, composedly--and so she did, a deal better than Kaituna herself. "So your papa is coming home in three months. I suppose you will be very pleased to see him?" "Oh, yes. I am very fond of my father. We are more like brother and sister than anything else. People say that papa is supercilious and haughty, but I never saw it myself." "He could hardly be so to you." "No! he is all that is good and kind. I try to make him as happy as possible, for it was a heavy blow to him when he lost my mother." Mrs. Belswin turned away her head to conceal a sneer. "So I try to supply my mother's place as much as possible." "I'm sure you succeed," said Mrs. Belswin warmly; "he can hardly miss your mother when he has you beside him." "That's what he says, but of course I know he says it only to please me. A daughter cannot supply the place of a wife." "In this case it seems she can," said the lady caustically; "but what will he do when you marry?" Kaituna blushed and cast down her eyes. "Well, I--I have not thought of marriage yet." "Oh, Kaituna!"