Lady Merion was working in the garden when she saw the angel. She should have been at her half brother Clyve's second birthday party, but she was furious with him. He had gotten into her room again and this time he had ruined her embroidery.

The angel was a welcome distraction.

Thus begins the tale of "Lady Merion's Angel," with the situation and fundamental issue of the story laid out. Fourteenyear-old Merion may be old enough to marry, but she is still beset by childish impulses; her staying away from Clyve's party is more the act of a child than that of an adult. The angel is at first as distraction from her angry, jealous thoughts.

She notes that "It was definitely an angel; small, but not small enough to be a fairy. Its wings were white and feathered, rather than veined like a...