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

gen's rooted conviction that nothing could be found in Colorado worth buying, and that it was essential to carry out all the tapes and sewing-silk and buttons and shoe-thread

at St. Helen's, where some of them went almost every day, and that extra baggage cost so much on the Pacific ra

for example?" he protested. "Pins are as plenty as blac

while we are in England. I shouldn't dare go without plenty of such th

ome curtain stuffs for the windows, and photographs. Geoff and Mrs. Geoff have made their house awfully nice, I can tell you. Americans think a deal of tha

ouldn't think delicate things like that would be at all suitable in a new place like Colorado, where people must

t seemed an incontrovertible argument, but Imogen made no attempt to overt

gland was at its freshest and fairest. The meadows along the margin of the Torridge wore their richest green, the hill slopes above them were a bloom of soft color.

d at the door of the New Inn,-as quaint in build and even older than the New Inn of Clovelly. The ladi

ge. We met at St. Helen's two years ago when I stopped to see my son. Let me intr

resent his sister, whereupon Mrs. Page urged them bot

questions about Clarence and his wife. What! you are going out to the High Valley next week, and your sister too? Oh, that makes it absolutely impossible for me

claw-footed tables and sofas, and chairs whose backs and arms were a mass of griffins and heraldic emblems. Old oak was the specialty of the landlady of this New Inn, it seemed, as blue china was of the other. For years she had attended sales and poked about in farmhouses and attics, till little by l

t she had a worn, dissatisfied air, and did not look happy. Imogen learned afterward that her marriage, which was considered a triumph and a grand affair when it took place, had not turned out very well. Count Ernest de Conflans was rather a black sheep in some respects, had a strong taste for baccarat and rouge et noir, and spent so much of his bride's money at these

oped and pinned to look as if it had blown by accident into its place-which yet exactly suited the face it framed. She was restlessly vivacious, her mobile mouth twitched with a hidden amusement every other moment; when she smiled she revealed pearly teeth and a dimple; and she smiled often. Her dress, apparently simple, was a wonder of fit and cut,-a skirt of dark fawn-brown, a blouse of ivory-white silk, elaborately tucked and shirred, a cape of glossy brown fur whose high collar set off her pale v

nd entertained at Imogen as Im

p to London often,"

en had been in London only once

ouldn't think there would be anything to do here that was in

'm sure. There's al

mean. Do you have many balls? Is there any g

we have lawn parties, and tennis, an

nd I don't want to go to any more in England, thank you. They never introduced a soul to us, the band played out of tune, it was as dull as ditch-water,-just dreary, ill-dressed people wandering in and out, and trying to look as if five sour strawbe

ake it for granted that well-bred people will talk to their neighbors at parties, and enjoy themselves well enough for the moment, and th

esent, or who they are, it doesn't matter in the least; but if you don't, it makes it a ghastly mockery to try to enjoy yourself at a party.

ely, "what d

than Nova Zembla. The sun is a mere imitation sun. He looks yellow, like a real one, when you see him,-which isn't often,-but he d

asked Imogen, surprised. "It's a lovely day. W

I did when it rained. Ah, here comes the tea. Let me pour it, Mrs. Page. I make awfu

th a "nubbin" on top, and in consistency something between pine wood and sole leather. Miss Opdyke, after filling

trength that it

er the rest

nd offended by the frankness of these strictures. "This is the sort every one e

nderstand,-or rather, our breads, for we have dozens of kinds, each m

messy," observed Imogen, nettled into reprisals; "pepper on e

ite at one end by itself, with a little salt, and then all the yellow in the middle, and last of all the white at the other end by itself; b

he spots where celebrated people have lived. There is a sad lack of such places in America. We are such a new country. Lilly and

e where Silas Lapham lived," put in the wicked Miss Opdyke. "On

American history," said honest Im

as frankly as you do. She has forgotten, and fancies that he really lived in Queen Elizabeth's time; and the coachman was so solemnly sure that he did that i

an odd

dd ideas over in

quite mad over Colorado, but he doesn't know much about the rest o

uffalo are rarely seen now, and only two men were scalpe

you pass your time?

balls nearly every night in the season and dinner-parties and luncheons and lectures and musical parties, and we study a good deal and 'slum' a little. Last winter I belonged to a Greek class and a fencing class, and a quartette club, and two private dancing classes, and a girls' working club, and an amateur theatrical society. We

dians is it that

ure you. It seems impossible to make any i

ith these Indians?" asked Imogen, deeply excited ov

, yes-fre

y interesting. Lionel never has said a wo

u know. They have Piutes there,-a different tribe e

t about the

New York Indians. It was two years ago; I had just come out, and it was my birthday, and papa said I migh

es streaked with war-paint, and the tomahawks at their girdles, and we felt that all hope was over. I caught hold of papa's lasso, which was looped round the saddle, and cocked my revolving rifle-all the New York girls wear revolving rifles strapped round their waists," continued Miss Opdyke, coolly, interrogating Imogen with her eyes as she sp

gen, drawing a long breat

whose name was Day Vidbehill,-a queer name, isn't it?-and slew him after a bloody conflict. He gave me his brush, I mean his scalp-lock, afterward, a

ll! it is too absurd, but you really believed it! I though

Imogen, her tardy wits waking

s London, but approaching it. It is a great, brilliant, gay place, where everything under the su

aven't

or half a century, unless he came by train to take part in a show. You mustn't be so easily taken in. People will impose upo

then he is so in love with America that it seemed as if he must be exaggerating. He did say that the cities were just like our cities, only more so,

again some time, and then you will tell me how you like Colorado, and the Piutes, and-waffles. I hope to live yet to see you stirring an egg in a glass with pepper and a 'messy' lump of butter in

Conflans they were at last suffered to escape into the street. "There seem to be so many different kinds. Mrs. Page and her daughter are not a bi

oggy. I told you America was a sizable place. You'll begin to take in and

ad form, and she was so remarkably quick and bright. It seemed as if she had seen all sorts of things and tried her hand on almost everything, and wasn't a bit afraid to say what she thought, or to

with the cauliflower and the Brussels sprouts. He declared that they had no taste, and that mint in green-peas killed the flavor. C

new nation like that to be setting up opinions of its own, and find

hes on the floor, for instance, and flagons of ale for breakfast. There were the stocks and the pillory too, and hanging for theft, and the torture of prisoners. Those were all in use more or

nstructed by new countries. It's like a child in a pinafore trying to teach its gran

of knickerbocker stockings for Geoff, and for Clover a bit of old silver which had belonged to a Templestowe in the time of the Tudors,-a double-handled porri

row," said Isabel at the gate.

ionel isn't married by the end of three years she'll send Beatrice out to take my place. She'll be tur

nd half so easily as in America. It will be you w

" cried

ds exchanged a las

lover," Isabe

t Imogen; but she smile