story. You are the prosecution, I am the
defendant, and these are the judges. I'll have my say last, so fire
ahead." There was a look of determination in the girl's eyes as she
laughingly challenged her aunt.

Mrs. Rickards smiled indulgently.

"Very well, my dear; but for goodness' sake don't be so slangy. Now Mrs.
Sampson and--gentlemen of the jury. Is that right, Rosie?" The girl
nodded, and her aunt went on. "You must quite understand I am entirely
disinterested in Rosie's affairs. My only interest is that I have found it
possible to--er--tolerate this madcap, and she has found it possible to
put up with me; in fact I am her nominal guardian--by mutual choice."

"You've hit it dead centre, auntie," interrupted the girl mischievously.

"Don't interrupt or--I'll clear the court. Well, the child comes to me
fresh from the prairie. She is good as good can be; but she is quite
helpless in her new life. And more than this she is burdened--I say it
advisedly--with great wealth under, what I consider, an extraordinary
will. How the colonel came to make such a will I cannot understand. The
only thing I can think of is that when that will was made he feared there
might be some person or persons, possibly relatives, into whose hands she
might fall, when she was young, and who might misuse her fortune. This is
surmise. Anyway, after providing for her mother he leaves everything to
Rosebud. But the legacy is not to take effect until the day she marries.

"Further, the property left to her mother devolved upon her at her
mother's death. This, of course, she has already inherited; the rest still
remains in trust. Now, of course, as the child's social mother, it is my
first duty to watch the men with whom she comes into contact. I have given
her every opportunity to meet the most eligible bachelors. Men of title
and wealth. Men who cannot possibly be charged with fortune-hunting. What
is the result? She sends them all to the right-about. She is positively
rude to them--little barbarian. And the others--the undesirables--well,
she just encourages them outrageously."

"Oh, auntie!"

"Wait a minute. The prosecution has not done yet. Now, Mrs. Sampson, I ask
you, what am I to do? The truth is she can marry whom she pleases. I have
no power over her. I feel sure she will throw herself away on some
dreadful, undesirable fortune-hunter. She is in such a position that no
poor man can ask her to marry him without becoming a fortune-hu