y Ward, K.C.B., R.E., H.M. Director of Fortifications.--I
am, sir,_

_Your obedient servant,_

J. FLEETWOOD CUNNINGHAM.

Thrice a week--on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays--the steamer
arrived at St. Lide's Quay, bringing the mainland mail, and the Lord
Proprietor's post-bag usually reached him soon after luncheon. It
carried, as a rule, a bulky correspondence, and since the steamer
weighed anchor early next morning, the Lord Proprietor set aside the
early part of these three afternoons to letter-writing.

The passage had been smooth to-day, and the bag had been delivered to
him and opened as he took his solitary meal. Also the mail for the
great house was a light one, and out of it the Lord Proprietor,
catching sight of the official stamp on the envelope, had at once
selected the letter quoted above. He perused it, and re-perused it, to
the neglect of the rest of his correspondence, tilting it against a
bowl of Michaelmas daisies in front of his plate.

It was satisfactory, he decided--that is to say, on the whole, and so
far as it went. He foresaw that short shrift would be given to those
idlers on Garrison Hill. On the other hand, he frowned at the
prospect--call it the chance, rather--of seeing that establishment
replaced by one more efficient. To be sure, if the necessities of Coast
Defence demanded it.... Still, for his part, he would have preferred to
be let alone. The Islands, with their many outlying reefs and poor
anchorage could never afford room to such battleships as were built in
these days; and to erect new fortifications to cover a roadstead that
would seldom if ever be used appeared the plainest waste of public
money.... He really thought that the War Office might have consulted
him before coolly proposing to plant a new garrison above St. Lide's.
He was not even sure they had a right, without his consent.... He would
confer with Mr. Pope on this point. At the very least, it would have
been courteous to start by asking his opinion; for, after all, he owned
the Islands. He was responsible, too, for the general good conduct of
the population; good conduct which the advent of a body of soldiery
would certainly affect--nay, might entirely upset.

Nevertheless, he reflected that--however the Commissioners might decide
(and he would take care to press his opinion energetically)--his letter
to the Secretary of State for War had at least done no harm. The
Commissioner's visit had obviously