The group consisted of Mrs.Ralph Mainwaring and her daughter Isabel; Miss Edith Thornton, the daughter of William Mainwaring Thornton and the fiancee of Hugh Mainwaring, Jr.; Miss Winifred Carleton, a cousin of Miss Thornton; and Mrs.Hogarth, the chaperone of the last named young ladies.
Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest in their new surroundings.

The young ladies were especially enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and grounds, while Mrs.Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her part.
"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside her cousin.

"I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart." "Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at least, till you are married, you know." "That is a very reckless declaration on your part, for I am likely never to marry," responded Miss Carleton, lightly.

She was an orphan and an heiress, but had a home in the family of William Mainwaring Thornton, who was her uncle and guardian.
Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled languidly.

She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold, gray eyes.