"But the only one who found favour in her eyes was the very last
man she should have pitched her fancy on, at least if old Hugh
were the judge. Kenneth MacNair was a dark-eyed young sea-captain
of the next settlement, and it was to meet him that Ursula stole
to the beechwood on that autumn day of crisp wind and ripe
sunshine. Old Hugh had forbidden his house to the young man,
making such a scene of fury about it that even Ursula's high
spirit quailed. Old Hugh had really nothing against Kenneth
himself; but years before either Kenneth or Ursula was born,
Kenneth's father had beaten Hugh Townley in a hotly contested
election. Political feeling ran high in those days, and old Hugh
had never forgiven the MacNair his victory. The feud between the
families dated from that tempest in the provincial teapot, and the
surplus of votes on the wrong side was the reason why, thirty
years after, Ursula had to meet her lover by stealth if she met
him at all."

"Was the MacNair a Conservative or a Grit?" asked Felicity.

"It doesn't make any difference what he was," said the Story Girl
impatiently. "Even a Tory would be romantic a hundred years ago.
Well, Ursula couldn't see Kenneth very often, for Kenneth lived
fifteen miles away and was often absent from home in his vessel.
On this particular day it was nearly three months since they had
met.

"The Sunday before, young Sandy MacNair had been in Carlyle
church. He had risen at dawn that morning, walked bare-footed for
eight miles along the shore, carrying his shoes, hired a harbour
fisherman to row him over the channel, and then walked eight miles