peak about this to the girls; this is just
between you and me," he would say to her, when sometimes she had not a
notion what he meant.

"I don't understand you, Harry," she said, once. "Why did you stop me
just now when I was going to tell Phillis about the Ibbetsons leaving
Glen Cottage? She would have been so interested."

"You must keep that to yourself a little while, Aunt Catherine: it
will be such a surprise to the girls, you know. Did I tell you about
the new conservatory Ibbetson has built? It leads out of the
drawing-room, and improves the room wonderfully, they say."

"My dear Harry! what an expense! That is just what Mr. Mayne was
always wanting us to do; and Nan was so fond of flowers. It was just
what the room needed to make it perfect." And Mrs. Challoner folded
her hands, with a sigh at the remembrance of the house she had loved
so dearly.

"They say Gilsbank is for sale," remarked her nephew, rather suddenly,
after this.

"What! Gilsbank, where old Admiral Hawkins lived? Nan saw the
announcement of his death the other day, and she said then the place
would soon be put up for sale. Poor old man! He was a martyr to
gout."

"I had a look at it the other day," he replied, coolly. "Why, it is
not a hundred yards from your old cottage. There is a tidy bit of
land, and the house is not so bad, only it wants doing up; but the
furniture--that is for sale too--is very old-fashioned and shabby."

"Are you thinking of it for yourself?" asked his aunt, in surprise.
"Why, Gilsbank is a large place; it would never do for a single man.
You would find the rooms Phillis proposed far handier."

"Why, Aunt Catherine!" in a tone of strong remonstrance. "You don't
mean to condemn me to a life of single blessedness because of my
size?"

"Oh, Harry, of course not! My dear boy, what an idea!"

"And some one may be found in time who could put up even with red
hair."

"Oh, yes; that need not be an obstacle." But she looked at him with
vague alarm. Of whom could he be thinking?

He caught her expression, and threw back his head with one of his
merry laughs:

"Oh, no, Aunt Catherine; you need not be afraid. I am not going to
make love to one of my cousins; I know your views on the subject, and
that would not suit my book at all. I am quite on your side there."

"Surely you will tell me, my dear, if you are serious?"

"Oh, yes, when I have anything to tell; but I think I will have a good
look round first." And t