In the High Valley / Being the fifth and last volume of the Katy Did series

the fashion of South-of-England suns, was real sunshine still, and glinte

ork of its twisted chimney-stacks was intact, and the stone carving over its doorways and window frames; only the immense growth of the ivy on its side walls attested to its age. It takes longer to build ivy five feet thick than many castles, and though new masonry by trick and artifice may be made to look like old,

oodland which had given it consequence in former days had been gradually parted with, as misfortunes and losses came to its original owners. The woods had been felled, the pleasure grounds now made part of other people's farms, and the once wide domain h

, lay a narrow walled garden, with box-bordered beds full of early flowers, mimulus, sweet-peas, mignonette, stock gillies, and blush and damask roses, carefully tended and making a blaze of color on the face of

He was a descendant in direct line of that valiant Young who, together with his fellow-seaman Prowse, undertook the dangerous task of steering down and

tead, having reared within the old walls a numerous brood of sons and daughters, now scattered over the surface of the

, oldest but one of the four daughters. She was evident

, glancing at the little silver watch in her belt, she began to call, "Lion! Lionel!

upper window; "I'm just washing my

and 'reckoning.' It seems as if he did it on purpose to startle and annoy me. I suppose one has got to g

eyes, went far to atone for a thick nose, a wide mouth, and front teeth which projected slightly and seemed a size too large for the face to which they belonged. Her dress did nothing to assist her looks. It was woollen, of an unbecoming shade of yellowish gray; it fitted badly, and the complicated loops and hitches of the skirt bespoke a fashion some time since passed by among

running rapidly down the path to join her. He was two years her junior, vigor

ve been!" she cr

t take it off, and that old Saunders took his time about bringing the can of hot, till at last I rushed down and fetched it up myself from the copper. You should have

been in the family thirty-one years. Of course he has a good deal to do just now, with the p

ere goes for

in the fresh wind. Below were thick growths of hawthorn, white and pink, and wild white roses in full flower interspersed with maple tips as red as blood, the whole interlaced and held together with thick withes and tangles of ivy, briony, and travellers' joy. Beneath them the ground was strewn with flo

too formidable a task to be at all worth while, but to our sturdy English pair it presented no difficulties. On they went, lightly and steadily, Imogen's elastic steps keeping pace easily with her brother's longer tread. There was a good deal of up and down hill to get over

he ocean from where we are to l

ring it's about fiftee

rating. Why, the whole of England is not so large

it down plump in some of the States, New York, for instance, and there would be quite a tidy fringe of territory left all round it. Of co

u've been over in America so long, and grown such a Yankee, that you swallow

measurement who has a tape-line. Wait till you see it. And as for its being vulgar to be big, why is the 'right little, tight little' always

at sort of rot; I

which hasn't got over to the States yet. You're as opiniated and 'narrer' as the little island i

hom he had fetched over. And I saw Professor-Professor-what was his name? I for

ated as specimens of American society, and neither can your bump-man. But she's a

, and the Squire took such a fancy to her that it was quite remarkable. But she cannot be used as an argument, for she's not the least like the American girls in the books. She

be just alike? And what books do you mean, and what girls? There are all kinds on the

estowe, the son of an old Devonshire neighbor, who had settled in a place called High Valley, and, together with two partners, had built up a flourishing and lucrative cattle business, owning a large tract of grazing territory and great herds. One of the partners was now transferred to New Mexico, where

as to it, but the United States were a terra incognita. Knowing absolutely nothing about them, she had constructed out of a fertile fancy and a few facts an altogether imaginary America, not at all like the real one; peopled by strange folk quite un-English in their ideas and ways, and very hard to understand and live with. In v

lead in everything, Imogen following and imitating. The Templestowes were better born than the Youngs, they took a higher place in the county; it was a distinction as well as a tender pleasure to be intimate in the house. Once or twice Isabel had gon

had no other intimate, but she knew too little of Isabel's other interests to be made uncomfortable about them, and was quite happy in her position as nearest and closest confidante until, four years befo

as as good as she was pretty, and as "sensible" as if she had been born and brought up in England; and, worst of all, Isabel, for the time of their stay, was perfectly absorbed in Geoff and Clover, and though kind and affectionate when they met, had little or no time to spend on Imogen. She and Clover were of nearly the same age, each had a thousand interesting things to tell the other, both were devoted to Geoffrey,-it

them past the Hoops Inn, and to the opening of a rough shady lane which made a

wn, the slope became steeper and narrowed to form the sharp "chine" which cut the cliff seaward to the water's edge. The Manor-house stood on a natural plateau at the head

te glimpse. Then they ran lightly down over the grass to where an intersecting gravel

ays, and a ceiling carved with fans, shields, and roses. "Bow-pots" stood on the sills, full of rose-leaves and spices, huge

flowers in the vases. But the sun shone in, there was a great sense of peace and stillness, and beside a little wood-fire, which burned gently and did not hiss or crackle as it might have done elsewhere, sat a lovely old lady, whose fresh and peaceful and k

Clover's mother-in-law. She jumped up almost

here just now, but her father called her off to consult about something in the hot-house. He won't keep

her, and had that undefinable air of being just right which a good London tailor knows how to give. She wore no ornaments, but Imogen, who had felt rather well-dressed when she left home

ot points from Mrs. Geoff, and that the Americans know how to dress if they don't know anything else

one end of the table, a chicken-pie at the other, and there were early peas and potatoes, a huge cherry-tart, a "junket" equally large, strawberries, and various cakes and pastries, m

ith amber-hued cider,-"you don't get anything s

ll you taste our lemonade m

and thin. I hope Geoff has some better tippl

uggested Lionel

han lemonade. It's the perpetual use of ice whic

y so nervous? Clove

ught not to be. I call her as sweet a lass as any country need want to se

as nice, too, though in a different way. And there's the oldest one-the wife of the naval officer, I'm not sure but you would like her the best of the three.

-Joan, I think they call h

ut her. She's only once been out to the valley since I was th

ogen. "He always does blush wh

you coming over to see for yourself how we look and behave? I think you and the Madam would enjoy a summer in

ld. I'm coming across to make Clover and Imogen a long

d and carried off poor Helen's children, the house has seemed so silent that except for you it w

till you can. The perfect thing wou

e not for that

rget the name of them, but they make you safe not to be sick, and then you're across before you know i

ow down to Gallantry on the smoothest day without being upset! You mus

r-leaves answer?" with a smil

sighed Mrs. Templestowe. "That bait would land me if anything could, Lion. By the way, there

n to Clovelly with a message for the landlady of the New Inn, and I've set my heart upon walking once more to

ady in five minutes, if you r

nder a low-hung sky, which looked near and

grounds and get under the trees, for I

as raining smartly, and the girls were glad of their water-proofs and umbrellas. Lionel, wit

e remarked. "That's worth calling rain! Imme

and personal friends of the owners of Clovelly Court. A few steps farther brought them to the top of a zig-zag path, sloping sharply downward at an angle of some sixty-five degrees, paved with broad ston

ng ridges on which the foot can catch as it goes slipping hopelessly down. Even to practised walkers the descent is difficult, especially when the stones are wet. The party from Stowe were familiar with the path, and had trodden it many times, but even they picked their steps, and went "delicately" like King Agag, holding up umbrellas in one hand,

he eccentricity of level was endless, gardens topped roofs, gooseberry-bushes and plum-trees seemed growing out of chimneys, tall trees rose apparently from ridge-poles, and here and there against the sky appeared extraordinary wooden figures of colossal size, Mermaids and Britannias and Belle Savages, figure-heads of forgotten ships which

small, low-browed building dating back for a couple of centuries or so, which was the "New Inn." "Ol

thickly on the walls in groups of tens and scores and double-scores, as suited their shape and color. The same ceramic decoration ran upstairs and pervaded the rooms above more or less; a more modern brick-building on the opposite side of the street which was the "annex" of the

passed by a minute donkey with two sole-leather trunks slung on one side of him, and on the other a mountainous heap of hand-bags and valises. This is the only creature with four legs, bigger than a dog, that ever gets down the Clovelly street; and why he does not lose his balance, topple backward, and go rolling continuously down till he f

ne of fine cliffs which lead to "Gallantry Bower." This is the name given to an enormous headland which falls into

blue, for the rain had ceased as suddenly as it came, and broad yellow rays were streaming over the wet grass and trees, whose green was dazzling in its freshness. Imogen drew in a long br

over there," she said. "Dear old D

eclared her brother; "wait till you see Pike's Peak. Wa

ook her head

h an air of scorn. "The name is

rossing of the Bideford road where they must separate. "Isabel looks as fresh as paint, and Mog

e Bay and back through the Hobby, six miles in all, perhaps, and she was quite done up, poor dear, and had to go on to the sofa. I can't think why American girls are not better walkers,-t