ome protest of Mrs. Dean's regarding his light
appetite.

"You don't look fit to go down town!" she exclaimed; "you had better
stay at home and help Katherine entertain her guests. I noticed you
seemed to be very popular with them last night."

"I'm afraid I would prove a sorry entertainer," Darrell answered,
lightly, as he rose from the table, "so you will kindly excuse me to
Miss Underwood and her friends."

"Aren't you going to wait and ride down?" Mr. Underwood inquired.

"Not this morning," Darrell replied; "a brisk walk will do me good." And
a moment later they heard his firm step on the gravelled driveway.

Mr. Underwood having finished his reading of the morning paper passed it
to his sister.

"Pretty good write-up of last night's affair," he commented, as he
replaced his spectacles in their case.

"Is there? I'll look it up after breakfast; I haven't my glasses now,"
Mrs. Dean replied. "I thought myself that everything passed off pretty
well. What did you think of Katherine last night, David?"

The lines about his mouth deepened as he answered, quietly,--

"She'll do, if she is my child. I didn't see any finer than she; and old
Stockton's daughter, with all her father's millions, couldn't touch
her!"

"I had no idea the child was so beautiful," Mrs. Dean continued; "she
seemed to come out so unexpectedly some way, just like a flower
unfolding. I never was so surprised in my life."

"I guess the little girl took a good many of 'em by surprise, judging by
appearances," Mr. Underwood remarked, a shrewd smile lighting his stern
features.

"Yes, she received a great deal of attention," rejoined his sister. "I
suppose," she added thoughtfully, "she'll have lots of admirers 'round
here now."

"No, she won't," Mr. Underwood retorted, with decision, at the same
time pushing back his chair and rising hastily; "I'll see to it that she
doesn't. If the right man steps up and means business, all right; but
I'll have no hangers-on or fortune-hunters dawdling about!"

His sister watched him curiously with a faint smile. "You had better
advertise for the kind of man you want," she said, dryly, "and state
that 'none others need apply,' as a warning to applicants whom you might
consider undesirable."

Mr. Underwood turned quickly. "What are you driving at?" he demanded,
impatiently. "I've no time for beating about the bush."

"And I've no time for explanations," she replied, with exasperating
calmness; "you c