s," remonstrated his sister.
"We want you at Saratoga."

"Well, it is flattering; but you wanted me at St. Augustine a little
while ago, and you had me. You can't always have a fellow. I'm going to
see the Isles of Shoals before they're the rage. I want to get cooled
off, for once, after Florida and Newport, besides."

"Isn't that the place where Mrs. Wishart is gone," said Philip now.

"I don't know--yes, I believe so."

"Mrs. Wishart!" exclaimed Julia in a different tone. "_She_ gone to the
Isles of Shoals?"

"'Mrs. Wishart!" Mrs. Caruthers echoed. "Has she got that girl with
her?"

Silence. Then Philip remarked with a laugh, that Tom's plan of "cooling
off" seemed problematical.

"Tom," said his sister solemnly, "_is_ Miss Lothrop going to be there?"

"Don't know, upon my word," said Tom. "I haven't heard."

"She is, and that's what you're going for. O Tom, Tom!" cried his
sister despairingly. "Mr. Dillwyn, what shall we do with him?"

"Can't easily manage a fellow of his size, Miss Julia. Let him take his
chance."

"Take his chance! Such a chance!"

"Yes, Philip," said Tom's mother; "you ought to stand by us."

"With all my heart, dear Mrs. Caruthers; but I am afraid I should be a
weak support. Really, don't you think Tom might do worse?"

"Worse?" said the elder lady; "what could be worse than for him to
bring such a wife into the house?"

Tom gave an inarticulate kind of snort just here, which was not lacking
in expression. Philip went on calmly.

"Such a wife--" he repeated. "Mrs. Caruthers, here is room for
discussion. Suppose we settle, for example, what Tom, or anybody
situated like Tom, ought to look for and insist upon finding, in a
wife. I wish you and Miss Julia would make out the list of
qualifications."

"Stuff!" muttered Tom. "It would be hard lines, if a fellow must have a
wife of his family's choosing!"

"His family can talk about it," said Philip, "and certainly will. Hold
your tongue, Tom. I want to hear your mother."

"Why, Mr. Dillwyn," said the lady, "you know as well as I do; and you
think just as I do about it, and about this Miss Lothrop."

"Perhaps; but let us reason the matter out. Maybe it will do Tom good.
What ought he to have in a wife, Mrs. Caruthers? and we'll try to show
him he is looking in the wrong quarter."

"I'm not looking anywhere!" growled Tom; but no one believed him.

"Well, Philip," Mrs. Caruthers began, "he ought to marry a girl of good
family.