take his bride with him. We'll spend our honeymoon on the high
seas, Ursula, and the cold Canadian winter under southern palms.'

"'You want me to run away with you, Kenneth?' exclaimed Ursula.

"'Indeed, dear girl, there's nothing else to do!'

"'Oh, I cannot!' she protested. 'My father would--'

"'We'll not consult him--until afterward. Come, Ursula, you know there's
no other way. We've always known it must come to this. YOUR father will
never forgive me for MY father. You won't fail me now. Think of the
long parting if you send me away alone on such a voyage. Pluck up your
courage, and we'll let Townleys and MacNairs whistle their mouldy feuds
down the wind while we sail southward in The Fair Lady. I have a plan.'

"'Let me hear it,' said Ursula, beginning to get back her breath.

"'There is to be a dance at The Springs Friday night. Are you invited,
Ursula?'

"'Yes.'

"'Good. I am not--but I shall be there--in the fir grove behind the
house, with two horses. When the dancing is at its height you'll steal
out to meet me. Then 'tis but a fifteen mile ride to Charlottetown,
where a good minister, who is a friend of mine, will be ready to marry
us. By the time the dancers have tired their heels you and I will be on
our vessel, able to snap our fingers at fate.'

"'And what if I do not meet you in the fir grove?' said Ursula, a little
impertinently.

"'If you do not, I'll sail for South America the next morning, and many
a long year will pass ere Kenneth MacNair comes home again.'

"Perhaps Kenneth didn't mean that, but Ursula thought he did, and it
decided her. She agreed to run away with him. Yes, of course that was
wrong, too, Felicity. She ought to have said, 'No, I shall be married
respectably from home, and have a wedding and a silk dress and
bridesmaids and lots of presents.' But she didn't. She wasn't as prudent
as Felicity King would have been."

"She was a shameless hussy," said Felicity, venting on the long-dead
Ursula that anger she dare not visit on the Story Girl.

"Oh, no, Felicity dear, she was just a lass of spirit. I'd have done the
same. And when Friday night came she began to dress for the dance with
a brave heart. She was to go to The Springs with her uncle and aunt,
who were coming on horseback that afternoon, and would then go on to The
Springs in old Hugh's carriage, which was the only one in Carlyle then.
They were to leave in time to reach The Springs before nightfall, for
the Oc