"One day, over a hundred years ago, Ursula Townley was waiting for
Kenneth MacNair in a great beechwood, where brown nuts were
falling and an October wind was making the leaves dance on the
ground like pixy-people."

"What are pixy-people?" demanded Peter, forgetting the Story
Girl's dislike of interruptions.

"Hush," whispered Cecily. "That is only one of the Awkward Man's
poetical touches, I guess."

"There were cultivated fields between the grove and the dark blue
gulf; but far behind and on each side were woods, for Prince
Edward Island a hundred years ago was not what it is today. The
settlements were few and scattered, and the population so scanty
that old Hugh Townley boasted that he knew every man, woman and
child in it.

"Old Hugh was quite a noted man in his day. He was noted for
several things--he was rich, he was hospitable, he was proud, he
was masterful--and he had for daughter the handsomest young woman
in Prince Edward Island.

"Of course, the young men were not blind to her good looks, and
she had so many lovers that all the other girls hated her--"

"You bet!" said Dan, aside--