"You seem to be well up in the subject, Kaituna."
"I could hardly help being so! Papa was always talking about the Government and their dealings with the land. You see, Mrs. Belswin, politics with us are more domestic than here. In England they deal with kings and governments, but there we attend to the welfare of the people--the parcelling out of the land, and all those kinds of things. I'm afraid I've got but a hazy idea of the true facts of the case, but you understand what I mean."
"Oh, I understand," replied Mrs. Belswin, composedly--and so she did, a deal better than Kaituna herself. "So your papa is coming home in three months. I suppose you will be very pleased to see him?"
"Oh, yes. I am very fond of my father. We are more like brother and sister than anything else. People say that papa is supercilious and haughty, but I never saw it myself."
"No! he is all that is good and kind. I try to make him as happy as possible, for it was a heavy blow to him when he lost my mother."
Mrs. Belswin turned away her head to conceal a sneer.
"So I try to supply my mother's place as much as possible."
"I'm sure you succeed," said Mrs. Belswin warmly; "he can hardly miss your mother when he has you beside him."
"That's what he says, but of course I know he says it only to please me. A daughter cannot supply the place of a wife."
"In this case it seems she can," said the lady caustically; "but what will he do when you marry?"
"Well, I--I have not thought of marriage yet."
"No, really," said the girl, raising her clear eyes to Mrs. Belswin's face. "I should not think of marrying without gaining papa's consent."
"Yes, the fairy prince who is to awake the sleeping beauty."
Kaituna blushed again, and laughed in rather an embarrassed manner.
"Dear Mrs. Belswin, what curious things you say," she replied evasively. "I have not seen any one in New Zealand I cared about, and since my arrival in England I have lived so quietly that I can hardly have met the fairy prince you speak of."
"When the hour arrives the fairy prince comes with it," said Mrs. Belswin, oracularly. "My dear, you are too charming to remain with your father all your life, as I am sure he must acknowledge himself. Have the young men of to-day no eyes or no hearts that they can see my Kaituna without falling in love with her?"