) 'I intended to stay here for a week or more, and write up a
record of our entire trip from Winchester while the impressions were
fresh in my mind.'

'And I had intended doing the same thing,' said Mr. Copley. 'That is, I
hoped to finish off my previous sketches, which are in a frightful state
of incompletion, and spend a good deal of time on the interior of this
cathedral, which is unusually beautiful.'

At this juncture Aunt Celia disappeared for a moment to ask the barmaid
if, in her opinion, the constant consumption of malt liquors prevents a
more dangerous indulgence in brandy and whisky. She is gathering
statistics, but as the barmaids can never collect their thoughts while
they are drawing ale, Aunt Celia proceeds slowly.

'For my part,' said I, with mock humility, 'I am a docile person, who
never has any intentions of her own, but who yields herself sweetly to
the intentions of other people in her immediate vicinity.'

'Are you?' asked Mr. Copley, taking out his pencil.

'Yes, I said so. What are you doing?'

'Merely taking note of your statement, that's all. Now, Miss Van Tyck'
(of course Aunt Celia appeared at this delightful moment), 'I have a
plan to propose. I was here last summer with a couple of Harvard men,
and we lodged at a farmhouse about a mile distant from the cathedral. If
you will step into the coffee-room for an hour, I'll walk up to Farmer
Hendry's and see if they will take us in. I think we might be fairly
comfortable.'

'Can Aunt Celia have Apollinaris and black coffee after her morning
bath?' I asked.

'I hope, Katharine,' said Aunt Celia majestically--'I hope that I can
accommodate myself to circumstances. If Mr. Copley can secure
apartments for us, I shall be more than grateful.'

So here we are, all lodging together in an ideal English farmhouse.
There is a thatched roof on one of the old buildings, and the
dairy-house is covered with ivy, and Farmer Hendry's wife makes a real
English curtsey, and there are herds of beautiful sleek Durham cattle,
and the butter and cream and eggs and mutton are delicious, and I never,
never want to go home any more. I want to live here for ever and wave
the American flag on Washington's birthday.

I am so happy that I feel as if something were going to spoil it all.
Twenty years old to-day! I wish mamma were alive to wish me many happy
returns.

The cathedral is very beautiful in itself, and its situation is beyond
all words of mine to descr