eam-flushed cups sent wafts of delicate sweetness with every puff of
wind.

Seventy years before the May morning of which we write, Copplestone
Grange had fallen at public sale to Edward Young, a well-to-do banker of
Bideford. He was a descendant in direct line of that valiant Young who,
together with his fellow-seaman Prowse, undertook the dangerous task of
steering down and igniting the seven fire-ships which sent the Spanish
armada "lumbering off" to sea, and saved England for Queen Elizabeth and
the Protestant succession.

Edward Young lived twenty years in peace and honor to enjoy his
purchase, and his oldest son James now reigned in his stead, having
reared within the old walls a numerous brood of sons and daughters, now
scattered over the surface of the world in general, after the sturdy
British fashion, till only three or four remained at home, waiting their
turn to fly.

One of these now stood at the gate. It was Imogen Young, oldest but one
of the four daughters. She was evidently waiting for some one, and
waiting rather impatiently.

"We shall certainly be late," she said aloud, "and it's quite too bad of
Lion." Then, glancing at the little silver watch in her belt, she began
to call, "Lion! Lionel! Oh, Lion! do make haste! It's gone twenty past,
and we shall never be there in time."

"Coming," shouted a voice from an upper window; "I'm just washing my
hands. Coming in a jiffy, Moggy."

"Jiffy!" murmured Imogen. "How very American Lion has got to be. He's
always 'guessing' and 'calculating' and 'reckoning.' It seems as if he
did it on purpose to startle and annoy me. I suppose one has got to get
used to it if you're over there, but really it's beastly bad form, and I
shall keep on telling Lion so."

She was not a pretty girl, but neither was she an ill-looking one.
Neither tall nor very slender, her vigorous little figure had still a
certain charm of trim erectness and youthful grace, though Imogen was
twenty-four, and considered herself very staid and grown-up. A fresh,
rosy skin, beautiful hair of a warm, chestnut color, with a natural
wave in it, and clear, honest, blue eyes, went far to atone for a thick
nose, a wide mouth, and front teeth which projected slightly and seemed
a size too large for the face to which they belonged. Her dress did
nothing to assist her looks. It was woollen, of an unbecoming shade of
yellowish gray; it fitted badly, and the complicated loops and hitches
of the skirt be