"How clever of you to guess that. He is--in a few days. Oh, how anxious I feel, Julian. So much depends upon my father." "He will consent, I am sure, Alice. With such a disposition as you have, you could choose no one but a really good man for your husband." Alice laughed a trifle bitterly, which was strange considering her prospects and happy state of mind. "Goodness or badness matter very little when one is in love, Julian. And they do not matter at all to my father so long as I marry a rich man. It is a good thing for me that Douglas has plenty of money, for only in that way will things run smoothly for both of us. Otherwise I feel certain that my father would still insist upon my marrying Don Pablo." "Humph!" said Hardwick meditatively. "The question is, 'Would Don Pablo marry you?' my dear girl." "He is supposed to be in love with me," said Alice, puzzled. "You know how he has bothered me, Julian." "Oh, yes, I know. But there is Rose Penwin, you know, that fisherman's pretty daughter." Alice turned to look at him in astonishment. "What about her?" "Señor Narvaez has taken an unaccountable admiration for her since you departed for London." "Unaccountable!" Miss Enistor's lip curled. "There is nothing unaccountable in any man admiring a pretty girl, and Rose is more than pretty!" "She is," said Hardwick calmly. "Pretty is not the word to apply to a beautiful and stately woman such as Rose Penwin is." "Brunhild or Brynhild--what do you call that Norse goddess you said you so admired until you met me?" "I never admired any Norse goddess," said Hardwick, laughing. "I simply quoted Brynhild as a type. Yes, Rose Penwin is of that type, but I am not in love with her." "Don Pablo is?" "So I am given to understand from village gossip. You know I chatter frequently to the fishermen and their wives. Well, Don Pablo has been paying great attention to Rose; giving her presents and----" "Does she accept his attentions?" interrupted Miss Enistor, astonished. "Yes and no. She does in a way, as she wants to make Job Trevel jealous!" "Job Trevel," said Alice thoughtfully; "to be sure! He is my foster-brother, Julian, as I told you how Dame Trevel brought me up. But I thought it was understood that Rose was to marry Job." "Too thoroughly understood," said Julian dryly. "It seems that Job is so certain of Rose that he does not trouble to pay her those pretty attentions which a lover should. Thus, to make him jealous, Rose pretends to accept the attentions of Don Pablo." "That old mummy. He can't even feel love." "No! I agree with you there, and I am puzzled to know what his game is. Why should an old man of eighty run after a girl of nineteen?" "He ran after me and bothered me enough, as you know," said Alice in a thoughtful manner. "He must be mad. Yet I do not think a madman would or could exercise such an influence over my father. However, Job can scarcely be jealous of Señor Narvaez, who might be Rose's great-grandfather."