ted that clavichord? It is one of the
oldest in the country."

"It appears to be of rare design," remarked Mr. Anderson, as his eyes
pierced the distance in a steady observance of it.

"It belonged to Mr. Shippen's father," she boasted. "This house, you
know, was the home of Edward Shippen, who was Mayor of the city over an
hundred years ago. It was then, if I do say it, the most pretentious
home in the city. My husband was for disposing of it and removing to
less fashionable quarters, but I would not hear of it. Never!"

Major Franks surveyed the great room deliberately.

"'Twould make a fine castle!" he commented as he half turned and crossed
one knee over the other. He felt that this would be his last visit if
he continued to take any less interest, yet even that apparently caused
him no great concern.

And yet, a great house it was, the quondam residence of Edward Shippen,
the progenitor of the present family, a former Mayor of the city, who
had fled thither from Boston where he had suffered persecution at the
hands of the Puritans who could not allow him to be a Quaker. It stood
on an eminence outside the city. It was well surrounded, with its great
orchard, its summer house, its garden smiling with roses, and lilies;
bordered by rows of yellow pines shading the rear, with a spacious green
lawn away to the front affording an unobstructed view of the city and
the Delaware shore. It was a residence of pretentious design and at the
time of its construction was easily the most sumptuous home in the city.

The Shippens had been the leaders of the fashionable set, not alone in
days gone by, the days of colonial manners when diversions and
enjoyments were indulged in as far as the austerities of the staid old
Quaker code would allow; but also during the days of the present
visitation of the British, when emulation in the entertainment of the
visitors ran riot among the townsfolk. Small wonder that the present
lord of the manor felt constrained to write to his father that he should
be under the necessity of removing from this luxurious abode to
Lancaster, "for the style of living my fashionable daughters have
introduced into my family and their dress will I fear before long oblige
me to change the scene." Yet if the truth were told, the style of living
inaugurated by the ambitious daughters was no less a heritage than a
part of the discipline in which they had been reared.

If the sudden and forced departure of the