Having built and furnished his castle in the air, Brian naturally thought of giving it a mistress, and this time actual appearance took the place of vision.  He fell in love with Madge Frettlby, and having decided in his own mind that she and none other was fitted to grace the visionary halls of his renovated castle, he watched his opportunity, and declared himself.  She, woman-like, coquetted with him for some time, but at last, unable to withstand the impetuosity of her Irish lover, confessed in a low voice, with a pretty smile on her face, that she could not live without him.  Whereupon—­well—­lovers being of a conservative turn of mind, and accustomed to observe the traditional forms of wooing, the result can easily be guessed.  Brian hunted all over the jewellers’ shops in Melbourne with lover-like assiduity, and having obtained a ring wherein were set turquoise stones as blue as his own eyes, he placed it on her slender finger, and at last felt that his engagement was an accomplished fact.

He next proceeded to interview the father, and had just screwed up his courage to the awful ordeal, when something occurred which postponed the interview indefinitely.  Mrs. Frettlby was out driving, and the horses took fright and bolted.  The coachman and groom both escaped unhurt, but Mrs. Frettlby was thrown out and killed instantly

This was the first really great trouble which had fallen on Mark Frettlby, and he seemed stunned by it.  Shutting himself up in his room he refused to see anyone, even his daughter, and appeared at the funeral with a white and haggard face, which shocked everyone.  When everything was over, and the body of the late Mrs. Frettlby was consigned to the earth, with all the pomp and ceremony which money could give, the bereaved husband rode home, and resumed his old life.  But he was never the same again.  His face, which had always been so genial and so bright, became stern and sad.  He seldom smiled, and when he did, it was a faint wintry smile, which seemed mechanical.  His whole interest in life was centred in his daughter.  She became the sole mistress of the St. Kilda mansion, and her father idolised her.  She was apparently the one thing left to him which gave him a pleasure in existence.  In truth, had it not been for her bright presence, Mark Frettlby would fain have been lying beside his dead wife in the quiet graveyard.

After a time Brian again resolved to ask Mr. Frettlby for the hand of his daughter.  But for the second time fate interposed.  A rival suitor made his appearance, and Brian’s hot Irish temper rose in anger at him.

Mr. Oliver Whyte had come out from England a few months previously, bringing with him a letter of introduction to Mr. Frettlby, who received him hospitably, as was his custom.  Taking advantage of this, Whyte lost no time in making himself perfectly at home in the St. Kilda mansion.

From the outset Brian took a dislike to the new-comer.  He was a student of Lavater, and prided himself on his perspicuity in reading character.  His opinion of Whyte was anything but flattering to that gentleman; while Madge shared his repulsion towards the new-comer.