"Well, that's jolly."
"The personal property consists of shares in a silver mine, which at present are worth nothing."
"Oh! that's not jolly. But what about Thornstream? Isn't Kaituna the heiress?"
"No! Thornstream is entailed on the male side, and all the property goes with the title. Had Kaituna been a man, she would have inherited; but as she is a woman she doesn't get a penny."
"I see."
"The present baronet," pursued Archie, smoothly, "is a beastly skinflint, and won't give Kaituna a penny; so had it not been for the kindness of a stranger--I allude to Mrs. Belswin--I don't know what the poor girl would have done."
"I do," said Toby, emphatically; "she would have gone to the Valpys, who asked her to come; or to the vicarage, where the dear old pater would have looked after her. Bless you, Maxwell, she would have been all right."
"I know both your father and the Valpys are good kind people," replied Maxwell with emotion; "and of course, if the worst came to the worst, she could have married me at once, and we would have got on somehow. Still all these possibilities do not make Mrs. Belswin's kindness any the less."
"She's a good sort," said Clendon, feelingly. "Why, if Kaituna had been her own daughter she couldn't do more for her than she is doing. But get on with your story."
"Well, Kaituna, as I have shown you, gets nothing from Thornstream or the present baronet; so all she inherits is her father's private property. Now, in New Zealand he had a good deal of land, but when he came in for the title he converted it all into cash, and with that cash he bought two thousand shares in The Pole Star Silver Mining Company, in Melbourne."