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 October nights were
dark and the wooded roads rough for travelling.

"When Ursula was ready she looked at herself in the glass with a
good deal of satisfaction. Yes, Felicity, she was a vain baggage,
that same Ursula, but that kind didn't all die out a hundred years
ago. And she had good reason for being vain. She wore the sea-
green silk which had been brought out from England a year before
and worn but once--at the Christmas ball at Government House. A
fine, stiff, rustling silk it was, and over it shone Ursula's
crimson cheeks and gleaming eyes, and masses of nut brown hair.

"As she turned from the glass she heard her father's voice below,
loud and angry. Growing very pale, she ran out into the hall.
Her father was already half way upstairs, his face red with fury.
In the hall below Ursula saw her step-mother, looking troubled and
vexed. At the door stood Malcolm Ramsay, a homely neighbour youth
who had been courting Ursula in his clumsy way ever since she grew
up. Ursula had always hated him.

"'Ursula!' shouted old Hugh, 'come here and tell this scoundrel he
lies. He says that you met Kenneth MacNair in the beechgrove last
Tuesday. Tell him he lies! Tell him he lies!'

"Ursula was no coward. She looked scornfully at poor Ramsay.

"'The creature is a spy and a tale-bearer,' she said, 'but in this