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.