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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Princess Polly's Gay Winter, by Amy Brooks
+#2 in our series by Amy Brooks
+
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+Title: Princess Polly's Gay Winter
+
+Author: Amy Brooks
+
+Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6584]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 29, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCESS POLLY'S GAY WINTER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Vital Debroey, Phil McLaury, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+                       PRINCESS POLLY'S GAY WINTER
+
+                             By AMY BROOKS
+
+
+                                AUTHOR OF
+             "Princess Polly," "Princess Polly's Playmates,"
+         "Princess Polly at School," "Princess Polly by the Sea,"
+                    "Princess Polly at Play," etc.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+   I           MERRY TIMES PROMISED
+   II          THE SEA NYMPH
+   III         GWEN
+   IV          WHAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL
+   V           A BREATH OF THE SEA
+   VI          A DELIGHTFUL CALL
+   VII         AUNT JUDITH'S PARTY
+   VIII        GYP'S AMBITION
+   IX          A JOLLY TIME
+   X           A HOLIDAY PARTY
+   XI          UNCLE JOHN MAKES A PROMISE
+   XII         AUNT ROSE'S CALL
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+MERRY TIMES PROMISED
+
+
+Little Rose Atherton sat on the lower step of the three broad ones
+that led down from the piazza, and she wondered if there were, in all
+the world, a lovelier spot than Avondale.
+
+"And we live in the finest part of Avondale," she said, continuing her
+thoughts aloud. "Tho' wherever Uncle John is, seems better than anywhere
+else."
+
+She had spent the bright, happy summer at the shore, and surely Uncle
+John's fine residence, "The Cliffs," had been a delightful summer home.
+
+Then Uncle John had one morning told a bit of wonderful news.
+
+"I've something to tell you, my little girl," he said, drawing Rose
+to him.
+
+"This is our summer home," he continued, "and a fine summer place it
+is, but Rose, little girl, we're to spend the coming Winter at
+Avondale."
+
+It had been very exciting!
+
+Before closing "The Cliffs," those treasures that Uncle John held
+dearest were carefully packed to be sent to the new home, and then,
+in the big, luxurious car, they had motored to Avondale.
+
+"Good-bye," Rose had said, as she looked back toward "The Cliffs," and
+then, after throwing a kiss toward the house, she nestled back in the
+car, and tried, for the twentieth time, to "guess" how the new home
+would look.
+
+It had proved to be more grand, more beautiful than she had dreamed.
+"And so near sweet Princess Polly," she said, "just the next house but
+one."
+
+She sprang from the low step, and ran down to the sidewalk to see if
+Princess Polly was yet in sight. "I think it is a little early," she
+said, "for Polly said she'd come over at nine, and it isn't nine yet."
+
+The dainty Angora came down the walk to meet her, her tail like a great
+plume, her soft coat as fluffy as thistle down. Proudly she walked as
+if she knew her beauty.
+
+"Oh, you darling puss!" cried Rose. "You make this new home seem just
+as if we'd always lived here."
+
+"That's right, Miss Rose," said the housekeeper, as she looked from
+the window.
+
+"A cat does make a place seem homelike. She's not stared about, nor
+acted wild as most cats do. She made herself at home, and seemed at
+home the first day the captain brought her to you. Do you remember,
+Miss Rose, she sprang from the basket, sat down on the rug, and began
+to wash her face?"
+
+"I know she did, and that proves that she's a wonderful cat. She
+couldn't act like a common cat. Could you, dear?"
+
+The cat rubbed lovingly against Rose.
+
+"We're going to choose a name for her to-day, and Princess Polly is
+coming over to help me. Oh, there she comes now!" Rose ran down the
+path to meet Polly, the white cat trotting along after her.
+
+"I wanted to bring Sir Mortimer over to get acquainted with her, but
+he's just dear, in all but one thing. He isn't _always_ polite to other
+cats, and _sometimes_ he's really horrid, and growls so dreadfully
+that you'd think he hadn't any manners," said Polly.
+
+"I guess it's just as well," Rose said, "for we'll be pretty busy
+choosing a name."
+
+Polly had written a list of fine names, and together they read them,
+the white cat sitting and eagerly watching them for a time, and then
+playing on the lawn with a ball that was her own especial toy. At last
+after reading the list of imposing names again and again, they decided
+that, after all, Beauty best suited the lovely creature.
+
+"To think that you are to live here at Avondale again!" Polly said,
+when at last the name had been chosen.
+
+"Yes, and to think that there's only one house between yours and mine!"
+said Rose.
+
+"You'll be happier in this handsome house with your Uncle John, than
+you ever were when you lived here at Avondale before at the little wee
+cottage with your Aunt Judith."
+
+"Oh, yes," Rose said quickly, "because _now_ I know that Aunt Judith
+loves me, but _then_, I thought she didn't. With Uncle John,--why every
+moment since I've lived at his house, I've known that he loved me."
+
+A moment she sat thinking, then she spoke again.
+
+"When I lived here at Avondale before, I lived _all_ the time at the
+cottage, but now I'll live here, with dear Uncle John, and go down to
+see Aunt Judith, oh, sometimes."
+
+Then she turned to look at her playmate.
+
+"Polly, _Dear_ Polly!" she cried. "You look more like a princess than
+when we first called you 'Princess Polly.' Now, who ever thinks of
+calling you Polly Sherwood, your real, _truly_ name?"
+
+"Who cares which they call me, so long as they love me?" cried Polly
+with a merry laugh.
+
+They were in the garden at the rear of the house, but between trees
+and shrubbery they could see a bit of the avenue.
+
+Something moving attracted their attention.
+
+"Look!" cried Rose. "What's _that_?" Polly did look.
+
+Something like a huge wheel, all spokes and hub, but no tire, was
+whirling down the avenue.
+
+"It's Gyp!" said Polly.
+
+"What? _That_?" said Rose.
+
+"Yes, that's Gyp, and he's going down the avenue whirling first on his
+hands, then on his feet," Polly said.
+
+"Oh, I wish he wasn't in this town," cried Rose, "because no one ever
+can guess what horrid thing he'll do next. And he won't stay over by
+the woods where he lives. He keeps coming over to this part of Avondale,
+and I wonder someone doesn't stop him."
+
+"Who could stop Gyp?" Polly asked.
+
+And who, indeed, could stop him? He was one of a family that was more
+than half Gypsy, and Gyp was, surely, the wildest of the clan.
+
+He _would_ steal, yet so crafty was he that no one ever caught him.
+He was full of mischief, and nothing delighted him more than the
+assurance that he had really frightened someone.
+
+As he usually felt very gay when he had done some especially annoying
+bit of mischief, it was safe to say that he had spent a busy morning
+somewhere, and now was turning handsprings to give vent to his hilarious
+feelings.
+
+"Oh, what _do_ you s'pose he's been doing?" Polly asked.
+
+"I don't know," Rose said slowly, "but I remember that he always acted
+just like that when he'd been _very_ naughty."
+
+"Rob Lindsey said yesterday that somebody ought to watch Gyp, and
+whenever he seems to feel gay, just look around the neighborhood, and
+learn what he has been doing," said Rose.
+
+"You'd have to watch him all the time, then," Polly replied, "for he
+always acts as if he felt full of fun, and mischief."
+
+"Then whoever watched Gyp could do nothing else. He wouldn't have a
+minute for--oh look!" Rose sprang up on to a low ledge that the gardener
+had left showing because of its natural beauty. Flowers grew at its
+base, and the little rock, or ledge, rose just enough to show its crest
+above the blossoms. Something bright and fair was racing down the
+street, as if pursuing Gyp.
+
+It shouted lustily. "You Gyp! You _mean_ old,--oh, I don't know what!"
+
+"Why, that's Gwen Harcourt!" said Polly, "and she's chasing Gyp!"
+
+Like a small whirlwind composed of muslin, lace, and ribbons, Gwen
+tore down the avenue, shouting, and screaming as she ran.
+
+She had snatched a handful of gravel just as she started to chase him,
+and she hurled the small, round stones after his flying figure.
+
+Not one of them hit him, and as he ran, he looked over his shoulder
+to grin like an imp, as he shouted:
+
+"Oh, what a shot! Ye couldn't hit the side of the house!"
+
+That so maddened Gwen, that she forgot to run, and in the middle of
+the street, stood stamping her foot, and shrieking.
+
+Of course Gyp was delighted! If he had not frightened her, he had, at
+least, the joy of seeing how angry Gwen could be. He vaulted over a
+low wall, and carelessly whistling, went at high speed across the lawn,
+toward the river, crossed the bridge, and, as usual, hid in the forest
+beyond.
+
+Gwen stood, where he had left her, watching him as he hurried away,
+and finally disappeared.
+
+"Horrid thing!" she cried. "How I wish I knew of something I could do
+to plague him!"
+
+Gwen was quickly angered, but her anger was never long-lived.
+
+She turned toward home.
+
+"_Let_ him run, if he wants to. Who cares? I don't."
+
+Already she was humming a merry tune.
+
+"I read a story yesterday 'bout a house that had a secret closet in
+it. 'Twas a fine story, and I guess I'll tell it to the first girl I
+meet," she said.
+
+It happened that Rose and Polly were walking down the avenue, on the
+way to Sherwood Hall, just as Gwen Harcourt gave up chasing Gyp.
+
+"Hello!" she cried, "I wondered when you'd come to Avondale to live.
+How long have you been here?"
+
+"Two weeks," said Rose.
+
+"Why didn't you let me know? I'd have been over to see you long before
+this," Gwen replied.
+
+Polly looked at Rose. She knew that Rose was not at all fond of Gwen,
+and wondered what reply she would make.
+
+Rose did not have to answer, for Gwen continued:
+
+"Sit down on this wall, and I'll tell you a story. I'll come over to
+your house some day this week, but now listen, while we sit here. It's
+a story I read yesterday, 'bout a house that had a secret closet, and
+ours has one, do you hear?" She leaned forward and pointed her ringer,
+first at Polly, then at Rose.
+
+"_Our_ house has a secret closet. Don't you both wish yours had?"
+
+"Why, Gwen Harcourt! What could we do with secret closets?" said Rose.
+
+"The girl in the story I read was locked into the closet by mistake,
+and she couldn't get out!" said Gwen, looking quite as excited as if
+she were telling something pleasant. Rose moved uneasily, and Polly
+shivered.
+
+"Didn't they _ever_ find her?" Polly asked.
+
+"I guess not," said Gwen, "and the funny thing is that the story stopped
+right there, so you see I'll never have any idea whether she ever got
+out or not."
+
+"Oh, I like _pleasant_ stories," Rose said, as she slipped from the
+wall. In an instant Polly stood beside her, and the two turned toward
+home, but Gwen had no idea of losing her audience so soon.
+
+"Wait a minute," she cried, "and I'll tell you 'bout the girl that
+fell into the ditch, and had to be pulled out by her hair!"
+
+"Oh, _don't_!" cried Polly, and clapping her hands over her ears, she
+turned, and ran at top speed, followed by Rose.
+
+They soon outran Gwen, and were glad to rest.
+
+"Did you ever hear such _horrid_ stories?" Polly asked.
+
+"Never!" cried Rose, "unless it was other stories that she told at
+other times. There's the one that she made us listen to when we were
+over to Lena Lindsey's one day. The one about the ghost that rode down
+the main street every night at twelve."
+
+"Oh, I remember," said Polly. "That was the time that Rob Lindsey said
+the shivers ran up and down his spine until his back was all _humps_!
+He said the shivers had become _chronic_! We laughed at Rob, but even
+the funny things he said couldn't drive away the thoughts of the story
+that Gwen Harcourt had told."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The bright, sunny days sped as swiftly at Avondale, as they had at the
+shore.
+
+Hints of pleasures that already were being planned for the coming
+Winter were floating as freely as if the wind carried them, and all
+over Avondale, wherever small girls and boys were at play, one might
+hear scraps of conversation that told of anticipated pleasures.
+
+Some of the gossip reached Aunt Judith's cottage, and she resolved to
+do a bit of entertaining, if not on the grand scale in which her
+neighbors indulged, at least in a manner that her little friends would
+enjoy.
+
+She laughed softly as she moved about the tiny rooms, and thought of
+the quaint, merry party that would at least be original.
+
+"The cottage is small, and so it will have to be a little party, but
+we'll call it 'small and select,'" she said.
+
+A light tap at the door, made her turn, and she hastened to open the
+screen door, that Rose might enter.
+
+"The fine house, and fine friends don't make you forget your Aunt
+Judith, dear," she said.
+
+"Oh, I'll never forget you," Rose said, "and I'll come to see you now
+I'm to live so near. To-day I'll sit beside you while you sew. I'll
+sit in the little chair that was always mine."
+
+"It is yours now, dear, and, whenever you come, I'll 'play,' as you
+and Polly say, I'll 'play' that you are once more living here at the
+cottage."
+
+There was news to be told. Uncle John was to have a fine conservatory
+built, and later it would be stocked with beautiful flowering plants.
+
+Lena Lindsey was to give a fine party some time during the Winter, and
+Leslie Grafton, and her brother Harry had already hinted that there
+would be gaiety at their home.
+
+Mrs. Sherwood always gave some sort of party for Princess Polly, and
+surely everyone remembered her beautiful party of the Winter before.
+
+All these things she told Aunt Judith.
+
+"And Uncle John says he will not permit his neighbors to do _all_ the
+entertaining, and when he says that he laughs," said Rose.
+
+Aunt Judith stopped rocking and sat very straight.
+
+"And _I_ shall entertain in a small way myself," she said.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Judith!" cried Rose, her surprise making her eyes round, and
+bright.
+
+"The wee party that I shall give will be in honor of my little niece,
+Rose."
+
+Rose laid her warm hand on Aunt Judith's arm.
+
+"How good you are," she said. "And I'll come over the day of the party,
+and help you get ready. I'll love to. 'Twill be half the fun. Oh, Aunt
+Judith, please tell me what the dear little party is to be like."
+
+"Like a party that I once enjoyed when I was little," Aunt Judith said.
+
+"I remember it as perfectly as if it had occurred yesterday. To repeat
+it now will be a quaint delight. I'll not tell you _all_ about it yet,
+but when my plans are made, you shall come over here to the cottage,
+and I'll tell you every detail. I believe the tiny party will do me
+good. I shall feel once more like the little lass that I was when I
+received the invitation, and then a week later, dressed in my best,
+went to my friend's house. There were twelve guests, and I shall have
+just twelve at _my_ party."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SEA NYMPH
+
+
+Little Sprite Seaford sat in the first car of the long train, her eyes
+bright with excitement, a tear on her cheek, and her red lips quivering.
+
+One little hand nervously clutched her handkerchief, while the other
+grasped the handles of her very new suitcase.
+
+She had wound her pretty arms tightly around her mother's neck, kissed
+her, oh, so many times, and then, lest her courage fail her, had turned
+and fled from the house, where on the beach, she clung to her father's
+hand, and silently walked toward the station.
+
+She felt that if she tried to talk she would surely cry, but why was
+the sturdy captain so silent? Did he feel, as his little daughter did,
+that safety lay in silence? Did he fear to speak lest the tears might
+come? It had been decided that Sprite should accept Mr. Sherwood's
+invitation, and spend the Winter at Avondale, enjoying the early Winter
+months at Sherwood Hall, and the latter part of the season as the guest
+of Uncle John Atherton and his little niece, Rose.
+
+She had enjoyed the planning of her modest little wardrobe, she had
+talked of the delight of having Rose and Princess Polly for her
+playmates all Winter.
+
+She had promised to be a faithful little pupil at school, and she had
+dreamed all night, and talked all day of the delightful Winter that
+she was to enjoy.
+
+Now, seated in the car, ready to take her first journey from home, she
+looked about her with frightened eyes. Captain Seaford stood beside
+her. He had bought a box of candy, and a book, trusting that they might
+help to cheer her.
+
+He looked down at the little daughter who was so dear to him.
+
+"I'd make the trip with ye, Sprite, but yer ma, I'm thinking, will
+need me, 'bout the time she knows yer train has started," he said.
+
+"Oh, she will. You _must_ go back to her," cried Sprite.
+
+The conductor entered and stated that all who were intending to leave
+the car must leave at once, or remain on board. Captain Seaford stooped
+to kiss the little upturned face.
+
+"Oh, father, dear! If you and mother hadn't worked so hard to get me
+ready for the long visit, I'd give it up now. I'd rather go back with
+you."
+
+"Tut, tut, Sprite! Be a brave lassie, and try to make the trip bravely.
+Ye need the good schooling and the merry playmates. The Winter at the
+shore is always dull. Cheer up, now. We're to have a letter, remember,
+as soon as ye reach Avondale."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" he said, as the conductor beckoned, impatiently, and
+with another kiss, and a hasty "Good-bye," he left the car.
+
+Sprite knew that he would stand on the platform, and she turned toward
+the window.
+
+Through blinding tears, she saw his stalwart form, and she tried to
+smile, for his sake.
+
+Before she could chase away the tears, the train had started, she saw
+through her tear-dimmed lashes a blurred landscape, and then,--why she
+was actually riding away from her seashore home! For a time she sat,
+as if in a dream, and then the conductor came along. Little Sprite
+looked up into his pleasant face, and wondered why he paused.
+
+"Let me see your ticket, my dear," he said, and she blushed at her
+forgetfulness, and drew it from her pocket.
+
+He punched it, and then, in a gentle, fatherly way, he said:
+
+"Your father, Captain Seaford, is a firm friend of mine. He asked me
+to look out for you, and see that you got off the train at Avondale.
+He said this was your first bit of travelling alone, but that your
+friends would be waiting for you when you arrived."
+
+"They will, oh, they will!" she eagerly cried, "and thinking of that
+makes me feel happier. I've never been away alone before."
+
+"I've a little girl at home who is much braver to talk about going
+away from home, than she is when the time comes to start. But don't
+worry, little Miss Seaford," he said, with a laugh, "for I'll be your
+friend all the way to Avondale."
+
+"Oh, thank you," she said, and he thought that he had never seen a
+lovelier face. She opened the new book, hoping that the story and the
+pictures might make her forget her homesickness. It was evident that
+she considered a good book a good friend.
+
+The story held her attention, the picture charmed her, and the box of
+candy was an added comfort. She nestled close to the window, her long
+golden hair fell over her shoulders, and framed her face, and the old
+conductor smiled when he passed down the aisle, and looked at the dear
+little figure.
+
+"The book has made her forget to worry," he said, softly.
+
+A little later, when he paused beside her seat, she looked up to smile
+at him.
+
+"I keep right on reading," she said, "because if I stop to think, I
+remember that all the time I'm going farther away from home."
+
+"Then whenever you look up from the page, just remember that you are
+getting nearer, and nearer to Avondale, where you can write your first
+letter home," he said in an effort to cheer her.
+
+"Oh, yes," said Sprite, "and I'll do that before I go to sleep to-night,
+and post it early to-morrow morning." Then, for a long time, she read
+the fascinating story.
+
+Just as she closed the book she realized that the train was slowing
+down.
+
+The conductor was coming toward her. What was the brakeman saying?
+
+"The next station will be Avondale!" he shouted, and little Sprite's
+heart beat faster.
+
+The conductor stood at her seat now. "I'll take your suit case," he
+said. "Come with me."
+
+How her little heart beat!
+
+Would they be at the station? They had promised to be there when the
+train arrived.
+
+She could not see from where she stood in the aisle.
+
+Ah, now the train had actually stopped! She was out on the platform!
+She was going down the steps. The kindly conductor was saying something
+about wishing her a pleasant visit. The train was starting off.
+
+Oh, was she utterly alone?
+
+"Sprite! Oh, you've come!" cried a sweet, familiar voice, and Princess
+Polly caught both her hands.
+
+"I was _so_ afraid that something would happen, and you wouldn't come,"
+she cried.
+
+"And _I_ was wondering what I'd do if I didn't see you when I left the
+car. Oh, _wouldn't_ I have been frightened?" said Sprite, with a nervous
+little laugh.
+
+"Oh, how could you think I'd miss coming to meet you? Mamma said the
+last moment, as I ran down the steps:
+
+"'I _do_ hope you will find Sprite at the station,' and I _did_," Polly
+said. "Now, come over to the carriage, and we'll fly to Sherwood Hall."
+
+"This is my suit case, and, oh, there's my trunk," Sprite said.
+
+"Oh, the coachman will take care of those. We'll get seated so as to
+reach home in just no time. I can't wait to take you to mamma."
+
+The color brightened in Sprite's dimpled cheeks.
+
+She was determined not to be homesick, and the ride along the fine
+streets, and then up the long avenue, showed such grand residences,
+such spacious piazzas, such velvet lawns and gorgeous masses of flowers,
+that the sea captain's little daughter began to wonder if she were in
+some new country, or at Avondale, where her new friends actually lived.
+
+"Here we are!" cried Polly, as the horse slackened his pace at the
+broad gateway, "and this is Sherwood Hall, your new home for the
+Winter."
+
+"For _part_ of the Winter!" called a merry voice, and Uncle John
+Atherton with Rose beside him in his big motor, laughed gaily as Sprite
+turned to learn who greeted her.
+
+For a moment the carriage and the motor stood side by side, while the
+three small girls chatted gaily, then, believing that Mrs. Sherwood
+and Polly should greet their guest, uninterrupted by neighbor or friend,
+Uncle John bowled away down the avenue, they responded to Rose's waving
+handkerchief, and then rode up the driveway.
+
+"Oh, what a lovely, _lovely_ house!" cried Sprite, "and what a dear
+place to live in. I _know_ I'm to be happy here!"
+
+"Indeed you are!" cried Polly, "and here's mamma."
+
+"Dear little girl," Mrs. Sherwood said, as Sprite stepped from the
+carriage, and ran up the steps. "I'm glad to see you, and I shall be
+glad indeed to keep you as long as Captain Atherton will permit. He
+was over here last evening, and he said that he would let us keep you
+up to the first half of the Winter, as we agreed, but after that he
+would have you at his home with Rose, if he had to steal you. He
+laughed, but he meant it, so see how _very_ welcome you are at
+Avondale."
+
+"Oh, it is sweet to have so many people love me," Sprite said,
+gratefully, and her eyes were as bright as stars. She was tired with
+the long car ride, and with Princess Polly, she sped to her room, there
+to make her little self fresh, and fair for dinner.
+
+"We're to share this room, and these two pretty beds are yours and
+mine," said Polly.
+
+"We could have had separate rooms, but I wanted you with me, and beside,
+mamma said if you were with me, you couldn't be lonesome."
+
+"Oh, I'd rather be with you," said little Sprite, "and what a lovely
+room it is!"
+
+She saw every dainty bit of color, every charming detail of the
+furnishings, she saw the river as she looked from the windows, and the
+vines peeping in at the windows, and she wondered how it had happened
+that she now possessed such dear friends, who vied with each other in
+making her their little guest.
+
+She opened her suit case, and took from it a pale blue frock, with a
+ribbon of the same tint for her hair.
+
+The frock was of soft mull, and its coloring was like that of a pale
+aqua marine.
+
+She combed out her long, waving hair, and quickly tied it with the
+blue ribbon, then, her hand tightly clasped in Polly's, descended the
+stairs.
+
+Arthur Sherwood entered the hall just in time to see the two pretty
+figures on the stairway.
+
+"Well, well, and so the little sea nymph has come to live at Sherwood
+Hall for a time. My dear little Sprite, I am truly glad to see you."
+
+He took the slender hand that she offered him, and the three chatted
+gaily until dinner was served.
+
+The fine dinner, exquisitely served, was a rare treat for Sprite, and
+the pleasant evening that followed made her at once feel that she was,
+already, a part of the family.
+
+In her room, after the happy evening, Sprite wrote a loving letter to
+the dear father and mother at the home by the sea.
+
+She addressed it, and placed the stamp upon it, and then gave it a
+place on the dresser where she would surely see it in the morning, and
+thus remember to post it.
+
+Princess Polly would liked to have kept awake to talk, but Sprite was
+very tired, and soon her answers became so drowsy that Polly knew that
+she needed sleep and rest. Little Sprite had been the first to drop
+to sleep, but, accustomed to early rising, she was the first to wake.
+She slipped from her bed, glanced at Polly, saw that she had not yet
+awakened, and quietly began to dress. She had learned, the evening
+before, that there was a mail box just across the street, and she now
+picked up the letter, and made her way down to the lower hall. The
+door stood wide open, only the screen door was fastened.
+
+The maid, a few moments before, had opened the door that the fresh air
+might pass through the hall. Sprite slipped out into the garden, her
+letter in her hand.
+
+She ran a short distance, then as the sunlight touched the glowing
+blossoms, she paused and looked about her.
+
+Oh, what a fairy world it was! Her home at the shore had been placed
+on a broad stretch of sand, and only a few of the residences at
+Cliffmore boasted a flower, or tree on its grounds.
+
+Now, with the garden gay with geraniums, tall gladioli, dahlias, and
+scarlet salvia, she looked in amazement and delight at the riot of
+color.
+
+"Oh, how beautiful it is here!" she said.
+
+Suddenly she remembered her precious letter.
+
+She ran across the street, and slipped it in the box.
+
+"There you go, and you'll tell the two dearest people in the world
+that I got here safely, and that everyone was dear to me. You'll tell
+them that I love them too."
+
+Her heart was lighter, because now she knew that the letter that the
+dear ones at home were looking for, would soon be on its way.
+
+She hurried back to the garden, where she sat for a long time watching
+the bees as they hovered over the flowers.
+
+She would not go back to her room for fear of waking Polly, and she
+knew that she should not wander about the vacant lower rooms, so she
+decided to wait in the garden, until Princess Polly should come down.
+
+She clasped her hands about her knee, and sat lost in a day dream. Her
+long rippling hair fell over her shoulders, and she made a lovely
+picture as she sat thinking of her home at the shore.
+
+"The cliffs are white in the bright sunlight by this time," she said,
+softly, lest someone might hear her, "and the big gulls are flying
+over the water, or dropping to float on the crest of the waves.
+
+"It is beautiful at home, and grand here at Avondale.
+
+"I wonder if anyone knows if one is really finer than the other. They're
+so different."
+
+Then again she sat dreaming. Sir Mortimer came around the corner of
+the house, and went straight to Sprite for the caress everyone offered
+him. He listened to her sweet voice as she told him what a fine cat
+he was, he arched his back, and purred his loudest.
+
+After a time he lay down on the grass beside her, taking his morning
+sunbath.
+
+Princess Polly, in the meantime, had awakened and missed Sprite. She
+dressed hastily.
+
+As she passed the window a soft voice talking to Sir Mortimer made her
+pause and look out. She leaned from the window.
+
+"Oh, there you are!" she cried. "I missed you, and I couldn't guess
+where you were. I'll come right down to the garden." She flew down the
+stairs, and out into the sunlight.
+
+Sprite ran to meet her, and with their arms about each other, they
+paced up and down the broad piazza.
+
+Sir Mortimer blinked at them as he sat in the sunlight, as if he
+approved of their merry chatter. Possibly he thought it fine that there
+were to be two little girls at Sherwood Hall to pet him.
+
+"The garden is so lovely," Sprite said, as they paused to look out
+across the lawn.
+
+"Come!" cried Polly. "I'll show you all the prettiest places."
+
+The big cat followed them, trotting along the gravel walk, pausing
+whenever they did, as if all that Polly was showing was new to him.
+
+And when they had admired the rippling brook that ran through the
+garden, the tall white lilies standing in queenly grace beside the
+stone wall, the terraces crowned with rose bushes, and the gorgeous
+beds of geraniums, they ran back to the piazza, and seated themselves
+in the hammock that swung in the breeze.
+
+"Do you remember any of the pretty songs you used to sing last Summer
+when we were out on the beach, or sitting on the ledge?" Polly asked.
+
+"There's one I always like to sing when I'm in a dory," Sprite said.
+
+"Then let's rock this hammock, and play it's a dory, and while we're
+swinging, you sing," Polly said.
+
+With a voice in which a thrill of happiness made wondrous music, little
+Sprite sang:
+
+   "Bright is the sky above us,
+    Blue is the sea below.
+    Seagulls are hovering 'round us
+    Fluttering to and fro.
+
+    Faith is the sky above us,
+    The sea is the earth below.
+    Gulls are the friends who love us,
+    Following where'er we go.
+
+    Sunshine above, around us,
+    White caps floating by,
+    None in the world is happier
+    Than you, my love, and I."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+GWEN
+
+
+Little Sprite Seaford felt so completely "at home," that it seemed to
+her as if she had always lived at Avondale. There were times when she
+felt homesick. At early morning, before Polly was awake, she would lie
+with wide open eyes, gazing around the lovely room, and missing the
+dear voices that always greeted her so cheerily. At twilight, when the
+shadows grew deeper, there would be a longing for the dear ones at
+home, and her loving little heart would ache, and she would have to
+struggle to keep back the tears.
+
+She knew, however, that she must be a bright, cheerful little guest.
+Had not dear father and mother said so?
+
+Throughout the sunny days she was the life of the merry playmates who
+lived so near that they were always together. Polly and Rose she had
+played with at the shore in the Summer, and at the children's party
+that Mrs. Sherwood had given, she had met the boys and girls who had
+come from Avondale for that evening.
+
+They had all liked the "little Sea Nymph," as they had called her, and
+now were glad to renew the acquaintance.
+
+There was one small girl who, thus far, had shown no interest in Polly's
+guest, and that was Gwen Harcourt.
+
+She had seen Sprite with Polly, and her playmates, but she had watched
+them from a distance.
+
+From her own piazza she could look across to Sherwood Hall, and see
+the children at play.
+
+In a few days she had tired of watching the merry friends, and she
+longed to join them. She had heard Lena Lindsey say that Sprite was
+charming.
+
+Leslie Grafton, only the day before, had said that one reason why she
+enjoyed playing with Sprite was because she was so _different_ from
+any girl that she knew.
+
+What was this "_difference_" that Leslie spoke of?
+
+Harry Grafton had declared that little Sprite was a trump.
+
+"What's a _trump_?" said Gwen, as she sat swinging her feet, and looking
+up and down the avenue.
+
+"What's a _trump_?"
+
+She was perched on the top of the stone post at the entrance to the
+driveway, and watching intently for a glimpse of little Sprite.
+
+She had been curious about the new little girl ever since the first
+day that she arrived at Avondale. _Now_, she was _determined_ to know
+her.
+
+"If she'd go by while I'm sitting here I'd _make_ her come into my
+garden. I'd like to have her all to myself the first time I talk to
+her," she said softly.
+
+Of course Gwen wished to meet Sprite when she was quite alone. Anyone
+who had ever known Gwen would know why.
+
+She knew that all of her playmates were aware that she told very large
+stories, and that none of them were true.
+
+If she had Sprite, quite by herself, she could tell what she chose.
+Luck favored her, for she had sat on the great post but a moment longer,
+when a soft voice singing made her look up.
+
+Sprite, her hands filled with flowers, was coming toward her.
+
+She was looking down at her blossoms, and did not notice the child on
+the post.
+
+   "Bright, glist'ning summer sea,
+    Bring thou a ship to me,
+    Sailing so gallantly over the main.
+    Down deep within its hold
+    Will there be bags of gold,
+    Or sparkling gems untold,
+    All, all for me?
+    Now my heart cries to thee;
+    Bring not from o'er the sea
+    Bright glitt'ring gems for me, nor bags of gold.
+    I'd rather have a heart,
+    Mine from all else apart,
+    From him I'd _never_ part,
+    Love's more than gold."
+
+Little Sprite Seaford had learned the song in her home by the sea. Its
+words were tender, its melody graceful and sweet, but Gwen Harcourt
+cared little for music. Her only thought was to startle Sprite. With
+this delightful thought in her mind, she waited until Sprite was about
+to pass the post, when she slipped to the ground directly in front of
+her, causing her to "jump," and drop half of her flowers.
+
+"Oh, how you frightened me!" she cried, as Gwen peeped impudently right
+into her face.
+
+"Mustn't be a 'fraidie cat'!" she cried, then--"Here! I'll pick up
+your flowers."
+
+With haste she snatched the flowers from the sidewalk, and thrusting
+them into Sprite's hand, she said:
+
+"This is where I live. Come in. I want to know you. My name is Gwen
+Harcourt. What's yours?"
+
+"I am Sprite Seaford," was the gentle answer.
+
+"My whole name is Gwendolen Armitage Harcourt. Rather grand, isn't
+it?" Gwen asked, her hands on her hips, and her feet wide apart.
+
+"Mine is just Sprite Seaford," she said, quietly.
+
+"Don't you wish you had a middle name?" said Gwen. "It sounds fine."
+
+"I don't think I care," said Sprite.
+
+Gwen was rather surprised that Sprite seemed little interested.
+
+"Come over here," she said, "and I'll show you something I guess you
+never saw before."
+
+Without waiting to learn if Sprite cared to go, Gwen grasped her arm,
+and literally tugged her inside the gateway.
+
+"See these rose bushes?" she asked.
+
+"Well, they're out of blossom now, but they had much as, oh, I guess
+a hundred roses on them all at one time!"
+
+Then seeing Sprite's look of surprise, she decided to enlarge her
+story.
+
+"I guess there must have been a _thousand_, now I think of it," she
+said. "Papa paid twenty dollars a piece for them, and maybe it was
+more than that. I'm not quite sure."
+
+Sprite made no comment.
+
+"And _I_ planted one of the bushes, and I'll tell you something real
+funny about it," Gwen said. "I planted it upside down just to see what
+it would do, and what do you s'pose? After it had been there 'bout a
+month I dug it up, and there were roses on it! It had blossomed down
+in the _dirt_! They were bigger than the ones that had been planted
+the right way, and they _might_ have been even bigger if I hadn't dug
+them up so soon."
+
+Sprite's truthful eyes were looking straight into Gwen's bold blue
+ones. "Are you _sure_ that happened?" she asked.
+
+"Well, what do you s'pose?" Gwen asked pertly, and then, without waiting
+for a reply she caught Sprite's hand and hurried with her into the
+great hall.
+
+"I brought you in here to show you the pictures," she said, pointing
+to the family portraits that adorned the walls.
+
+Sprite looked in admiration at the ladies in their quaint gowns of
+stiff brocade, and at the men in their lace frills, and satin
+waistcoats.
+
+"The pictures are lovely," she said, "and are they portraits of people
+that really, truly lived once?"
+
+"Oh, yes," cried Gwen, "and I'll tell you all about them.
+
+"This lady with the pink gown was my great aunt Nora, and that man in
+the yellow waistcoat was my great uncle Nathan.
+
+"That lady in green velvet was my great aunt Nina, and that young girl
+beside her was her daughter, Arline.
+
+"That little old lady in velvet and lace was my great grandmother, and
+the next picture was my own grandma, and I've forgotten who that next
+one is, but the next lady's name was Jemima, and the one in yellow
+silk was Elvira, and the one in pink muslin was Honoriah, and the next
+one,--oh, let me think. What _was_ her name? Oh, I know, it was
+Anastasia."
+
+"Why, their names grow worse, and worse the farther you go down the
+hall!" cried Sprite.
+
+"Why no they don't," said Gwen, "for over on this wall, the first
+picture, this one of the lady with the dog is called Lucretia, and
+that next one's name was Abagail."
+
+"Well, their gowns are lovely," said Sprite, "but didn't they use to
+have just horrid names?"
+
+"My mamma says those names are 'quaint,'" Gwen replied, "but come and
+see this portrait of a little girl. Guess who that is?"
+
+"Oh, how could I?" said Sprite, "I've never known your people."
+
+Gwen moved along until she stood close beside her, then she looked
+straight into Sprite Seaford's eyes, and nodding as she spoke, and
+shaking her forefinger, she said in a whisper:
+
+"That's a portrait of _me!_"
+
+"Why--ee!" exclaimed Sprite.
+
+"That _is_ a picture of me!" declared Gwen. "Do you _dare_ to say it
+doesn't look like me?"
+
+Gwen's eyes were flashing, but the sea captain's little daughter was
+no coward.
+
+"Of course I dare," she said, "for your eyes are blue, and your hair
+is light, while the little girl in the picture has brown eyes, and
+brown curling hair."
+
+"How do you know that my hair hasn't been that color, some time or
+other?" Gwen asked sharply.
+
+"I don't s'pose I do know," Sprite said simply, "but I don't _believe_
+folks have brown hair and have it turn light yellow, and I don't believe
+brown eyes turn blue, so I don't see how that little girl in the picture
+is you."
+
+Gwen was breathing fast. She was very angry, but she dared not say
+harsh words yet.
+
+She wanted this little Miss Seaford to like her, and to be willing to
+play with her, so she only repeated: "I say that that little girl in
+the picture _is me_!"
+
+Sprite turned toward the door.
+
+"Princess Polly may be looking for me," she said, "so I'll go, now."
+
+As she stepped out into the sunshine she remembered something that she
+should have said, and she turned.
+
+"Thank you for letting me see the portraits," she said. "I'm glad you
+showed them to me."
+
+"Well, _I'm_ not," Gwen said, rudely. "I wish I _hadn't_, 'cause you
+don't b'lieve that pretty portrait is me."
+
+Sprite looked at her with wondering eyes. She was thinking that it was
+strange that a little girl who wore lovely frocks, and lived in a
+handsome house was willing to be as rude as any little vagrant who
+roamed the beach at Cliffmore, gathering sea weed.
+
+"Our house is just an old ship's hull turned upside down, and fixed
+up for a house, but mother never let me speak like that to anyone, and
+besides, I wouldn't want to," she thought.
+
+She walked toward the avenue, Gwen close beside her.
+
+"Good-bye," Sprite said, with a pleasant smile.
+
+"I'll not say 'good-bye!'" cried Gwen. "All I'll say is: 'That portrait
+_is_ a picture of _me_!"
+
+Her voice had risen to a shriek, and she stamped her foot.
+
+Sprite, now wholly disgusted, turned and ran.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt, from an upper window, saw Sprite running away from the
+house, just as Gwen's angry voice made itself heard.
+
+"Oh, dear!" she sighed, "What a pity that of all the children that
+Gwen knows, not one really understands her."
+
+The lady, to whom she spoke, looked up into her handsome face, and
+wondered how any intelligent woman could be so blind regarding her own
+child.
+
+"She's so very high strung," continued Mrs. Harcourt, "that she is
+easily excited, and she's so _very_ sensitive that her playmates are
+constantly hurting her."
+
+"Why do you not urge her to bear with her little friends patiently,
+and thus help matters to glide more smoothly?"
+
+"Ah, you, dear friend, like all the rest, fail to understand how fine,
+how _extremely_ sensitive my little Gwen is," Mrs. Harcourt responded.
+
+At this point Gwen rushed up the stairs, stamping on every stair, and
+dashed into the room.
+
+"I'm glad she's gone!" she cried, flinging herself down on a chair
+near the window, a frown making her look as unpleasant as possible.
+
+"Who was that child?" her mother asked, as she bent over her, kissing
+her flushed face, and brushing a yellow curl back from her forehead.
+
+"She's come to Avondale to stay all Winter with Princess Polly, and
+with Rose Atherton. I wanted to know her, I mean I _thought_ I did,
+but now I don't. I brought her in to see the portraits in our hall,
+and just for fun I told her that the picture of the little brown eyed
+girl was me.
+
+"She wouldn't believe it, and that made me mad. Of course it really
+wasn't a portrait of me, but if I _said_ it was, she ought to believe
+it?"
+
+"My precious darling!" cried Mrs. Harcourt, "the children _never_ seem
+to be able to understand your wonderful imagination. The child was
+absurd to go off leaving you so unhappy. I'll ask Mrs. Sherwood what
+sort of child she is."
+
+Gwen, having been petted and assured that her mother thought her
+perfect, ran from the room, and down to the garden where she sought
+something with which to amuse herself.
+
+The cook, looking from the rear window, frowned darkly.
+
+Gwen did not see her, because, with her back toward the house, she was
+trying to see if it would be possible to tie a knot in the cat's tail.
+
+The old cat objected, and struck at her, missing however, because Gwen
+jumped back.
+
+"Ah, ye little varmint!" cried the cook, "if they's no person handy
+fer yez ter pester, thin yez fall back on the owld cat, poor crayture."
+
+A few moments she watched Gwen in silence, then again she spoke.
+
+"There she goes tryin' to climb up onto the fountain basin. Sure I'll
+hov ter shpake ter her, and I don't want ter, but she risks anything."
+
+Throwing up the window she shouted:
+
+"Hi! Miss Gwen! Coom down off'n there, 'fore ye do be gittin' a big
+fall!"
+
+Gwen turned and made an outrageous face, thus giving proof of her
+sweetness.
+
+"Coom doon!" shouted the cook, but Gwen only giggled and remained
+exactly where she was.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+WHAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL
+
+
+Little Sprite Seaford thought Avondale the brightest place that any
+child ever lived in, and if the sky was blue, or if clouds hid the
+sun, she smiled and still insisted that it was a cheery place.
+
+She had not forgotten the charm of her home at the shore, but she
+remembered that she always felt very gay when the sunlight glistened
+on the waves.
+
+She remembered that when the sky was overcast, the waves were dark and
+sullen, and the great gulls flew far over the sea, her laugh lost its
+gaiety, and she forgot to sing her merry songs.
+
+Here at Avondale were trees bright with leaves of red and yellow,
+gardens glowing with gorgeous fall flowers, and Sprite thought Avondale
+looked as if it were one huge garden, through which avenues had been
+cut, and houses, surrounded by spacious lawns, had been built.
+
+School had opened a week earlier than usual, and Sprite already felt
+"at home."
+
+She was a favorite with the boys and girls, and, to her great delight,
+she found that she had progressed in her studies, under her mother's
+guidance, so that, although a trifle younger than Princess Polly, she
+would be a member of the same class.
+
+Polly, and Rose, and Sprite made a lovely trio, and older people meeting
+them as they tripped along together, marvelled that three such beautiful
+children, happened to be intimate neighbors.
+
+Gwen Harcourt had not entered school on the first day, but one morning
+she appeared with the news that she should attend school all the year
+if she chose, but that she could leave at any time if she wished.
+
+"Oh, but won't your mamma _make_ you go to school?" a small girl asked.
+
+"My mamma never _makes_ me do anything!" declared Gwen sharply. "I
+guess that's so!" Rob Lindsey said, softly.
+
+"What did you say?" Gwen asked.
+
+"I don't _dare_ to tell," declared Rob, in a teasing voice.
+
+"You _needn't_!" cried Gwen, and she rudely turned her back toward
+Rob, and commenced to talk to Leslie Grafton.
+
+She talked so fast that she hardly knew what she was saying, but she
+wished Rob Lindsey to think that she had quite forgotten that he was
+there.
+
+The bell rang, and while the others turned to hasten toward the school
+house, Gwen walked along as if merely out for a stroll, and she entered
+the schoolroom after all the others were seated. The new teacher thought
+it a happening, but the pupils knew that Gwen had done it to learn if
+the teacher would rebuke her.
+
+As her tardiness passed unnoticed, Gwen at once decided to do something
+more striking.
+
+She was bright, and quick to learn, but she cared little for study,
+and she would have been placed in a much lower class, but for her
+mother's great influence.
+
+Mrs. Harcourt had listened very patiently while it had been made clear
+to her that her small daughter was not fitted for the class in which
+her little friends were placed.
+
+She was a charming woman, and she had begged, even insisted that Gwen
+be placed in the class with Princess Polly, Rose Atherton, and Sprite
+Seaford, and thus given the opportunity to prove that she could "keep
+up" with her class.
+
+The new teacher was amused, and believing that Gwen's stay in the class
+would be of short duration, she yielded.
+
+Gwen never studied, and on her first day, she decided that, as she
+thought herself _very_ smart, she could, by listening to what others
+were reciting, do very well without "bothering with books."
+
+That was what she said, and the first question in Geography that she
+answered, made Rob Lindsey call her a "star pupil."
+
+"What is the capital of Brazil?" Gwen stared for a moment, then she
+tossed her head as she said, pertly:
+
+"Oh, anyone knows _that_!"
+
+"_Next_!" said the teacher.
+
+Gwen was surprised.
+
+She had expected to be coaxed.
+
+A few moments later she heard a small girl talking of the great Amazon
+river. She caught the name, and later when asked to name the largest
+river in Africa, she sprang to her feet, and glibly shouted:
+
+"The Amazon!"
+
+"Well, why do you laugh?" she asked, turning angrily to stare at the
+laughing class.
+
+She was offended, when told to sit down, and decided to tell her mother
+that she had not received enough attention.
+
+"I guess I'll say 'snubbed,' because that will make mamma _sure_ to
+take my part," she softly whispered.
+
+She changed her mind, she often did that, and thought that she would
+not tell at home that she had been displeased.
+
+She chose to attend school a week longer, or perhaps a number of weeks
+longer, because Miss Kenyon, just before closing for the afternoon,
+stated that on Friday of each week an hour would be reserved for
+recitations, and for the reading of compositions.
+
+Gwen thought she saw a chance to shine, and she meant to do it.
+
+She had heard a conversation, not intended for her ears, when a lady
+calling at her home had inquired for the little daughter of the house.
+
+"Oh, Gwen is really a wonderful child," Mrs. Harcourt had said, "and
+while she has a positive talent for reciting fine poetry, her
+compositions are _so_ original that they are really _startling_!"
+
+"Oh, really!" the lady had replied, in a manner that showed that she
+was bored.
+
+Gwen had leaned over the baluster in the upper hall, and drank in every
+word of praise that had been uttered.
+
+The following Friday the pupils arrived with compositions that they
+had prepared.
+
+As is usual, in any such school event, some were really good, others
+were neither very good, nor very bad, but all others were forgotten
+when Gwen Harcourt commenced to read.
+
+If Gwen Harcourt was vain, conceited, too much of a baby for a child
+of her age, it was largely the fault of her silly mother, whose beauty,
+and power to charm were great, but whose mind was exceedingly shallow.
+
+She loved Gwen deeply, even too deeply to see any faults, and so in
+her blind love, she of course, could never correct these defects that
+she could not see, and that made the pretty child exceedingly
+unattractive.
+
+Her composition was a good example of what a silly child, with an even
+sillier mother could do, in the way of original work, for surely the
+essay was _original_.
+
+Gwen pranced up onto the platform, made a graceful little bow, and
+then, nodding to the class she said: "This really, truly happened!
+E'hem!
+
+    "The Ostrich.
+
+"The ostrich that I'm to tell about was in the Zoo in a big city where
+I went once, and he must have been the biggest ostrich that anyone
+ever saw.
+
+"He was as big as a horse, and so he ought to have been called a
+_hoss_trich.
+
+"His feathers were all the colors that folks wear on their hats,--"
+She paused to note what impression she was making, and a doubting small
+boy, murmured;
+
+"Oo--o--o!"
+
+Gwen frowned, and commenced to read again.
+
+"The ostrich didn't look much like the big white owl in a cage near
+him, because the owl had bigger eyes."
+
+A few of the pupils giggled, and one in the front row muttered.
+
+"I don't suppose there was any difference in their _legs_!"
+
+"The ostrich is graceful,--"
+
+She paused again, because at this absurd statement Dick Minton laughed
+aloud.
+
+"Oh, _graceful_!" whispered Dick.
+
+"_Richard_!" said Miss Kenyon, her voice deeply reproving.
+
+"Well, the idea!" said Dick. "_Graceful_!"
+
+"Gwen, tell me where you obtained these strange ideas about the
+ostrich," Miss Kenyon said.
+
+"Did you read some book about birds, or did someone tell you these
+things that you have written?"
+
+"These are _my own_ ideas," Gwen answered, proudly.
+
+"I didn't have to read or be told what to write. Mamma says I'm a
+_genius_, and she read this composition, and _she_ said it was _fine_,
+so I don't care what _you_ say about it!"
+
+"You may be seated," said the teacher, but Gwen, not heeding what she
+said, rushed from the school-house, intent upon telling her mother how
+very badly she had been treated.
+
+Miss Kenyon told the pupils that they had been rude to laugh, or make
+comments when another pupil was taking any part in the exercises.
+
+They knew that, but they also knew that Gwen's composition had been
+"funny."
+
+Gwen rushed home with her composition in her hand.
+
+Of course Mrs. Harcourt praised and comforted her.
+
+"Absurd!" she cried. "Did she wish you to consult a dictionary? Any
+_ordinary_ child could do that, but to evolve such odd ideas! Why
+_that_ is genius! She is dull if she doesn't know great creative genius
+when she sees it!"
+
+"And _must_ I go to school again to-morrow?" Gwen asked.
+
+"No, indeed!" Mrs. Harcourt said, "I shall send you, hereafter, to
+private school, where your talents will be appreciated."
+
+There was another pupil who was far more uncomfortable at school than
+Gwen had ever been, and that was Gyp.
+
+Placed in a class with children of six or seven, the awkward boy felt
+ill at ease, and out of place. Yet, while they were years younger than
+he, they had already spent more hours in the class room than he ever
+had, and pages that they read with ease, he struggled over. He was a
+true gypsy, and he loved his freedom, and the fresh air.
+
+Now, as he sat at his desk, book in hand, he thought of his long tramps
+over field and meadow, through forest and valley, and in his heart he
+hated school, and the people who forced him to attend.
+
+"What's the use?" he muttered, under his breath.
+
+"I can catch woodchucks, and birds and squirrels," he said, softly,
+"and _once_ I caught a fox, but what kin I do here? Nothing but hold
+a ol' book!" A sharp command to "stop muttering, and sit still," served
+to increase his wrath.
+
+He knew that it was not the teacher who was responsible for his presence
+at school, but he thought that she _wished_ him to be there, because
+she insisted that he sit still, and she would not let him leave the
+room.
+
+"It was the p'liceman what _brung_ me here, but I'll bet 'twas her
+_axed_ him to," he whispered, thus showing how angry were his thoughts,
+and how greatly he needed the training that the teacher stood ready
+to give.
+
+His mother had not dared to keep him at home, although she needed his
+help.
+
+Gyp could not understand why she had agreed to let him go to a place
+where he could neither _earn_ nor _steal_ food for the family. _He_
+felt that she had not stood by him.
+
+He dared not play truant, because he so feared the policeman who had
+said that he _must_ attend school.
+
+Poor Gyp! Ignorant, and born of ignorant parents, he believed, as they
+did, that if he did not go to school, he would be sent to jail! Jail
+was the only thing that Gyp thought worse than school. He considered
+himself a prisoner in school, but _after four_ he was _free_, so that
+jail was worse only because one could not get out of jail at all!
+
+"If it's school or jail, I'll go to _school_!" he said.
+
+For weeks he appeared each morning and afternoon, sullen, and unhappy.
+Then something occured that made him change his mind, and his eyes
+grow bright, and his heart grow lighter.
+
+Out of all Avondale, Princess Polly was the only person who spoke
+kindly to him. Wild, careless Gyp fairly worshipped the blue eyed,
+golden haired little girl who always gave him a pleasant word, and a
+smile.
+
+One morning, after a heavy storm, the avenues were in fair condition,
+until the pupils reached a place where they must cross to the opposite
+side of the street to enter the school yard.
+
+Gyp was not afraid of muddying his shoes, because they were so shabby
+that a little mud could not make them look worse. He sat on the wall
+and laughed as he saw the girls try to cross the puddle without wetting
+their feet.
+
+"Oh, look at the ducks! No, geese!" he cried, adding: "Don't be 'fraid.
+Water won't hurt ye!"
+
+After the other girls had reached the sidewalk, Princess Polly came
+tripping along.
+
+She had intended to walk to school with Rose and Sprite, but Sprite,
+not quite ready, had asked Polly to go along, and she would soon be
+ready, and would overtake her.
+
+Gyp saw her coming, and stopped laughing.
+
+"_Jiminy_!" he ejaculated. "Somebody ought ter do _suthin'_!"
+
+A second later he cried:
+
+"Stop! Oh, stop just a minute, will ye? I'll _fix_ that puddle!"
+
+Polly _did_ stop.
+
+Snatching a piece of board that chanced to be lying on the ground just
+over the wall, he flew to where Polly was standing, placed his tiny
+plank over the puddle, and felt the greatest pride when he saw her
+walk across, her dainty shoes without a spot upon them.
+
+"Oh, Gyp, you were nice to do that for me! Thank you, so much!" she
+said.
+
+He hardly knew what to reply, but muttering something about being "no
+bother at all," he ran around to the other side of the school-house
+that she might not see his confusion. One thought filled his mind. He
+would go to school! Yes, he would go to school every day, so that
+morning and afternoon he might be where he could see her, and do any
+little favor, or offer any aid, that she might need.
+
+Another thought soon followed. He would _work_ at his studies. He would
+not be at the foot of the class.
+
+He must work for promotion! He must catch up with pupils of his own
+age, for then he would be nearer Princess Polly, and thus able to do
+any little favor, or any slight service that might please her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A BREATH OF THE SEA
+
+
+It was with Polly and Rose that Sprite was happiest. She liked Lena
+and Leslie, and all the others.
+
+The boys were her trusted friends, and she looked forward to a gay
+winter with these new friends. One sunny morning Uncle John Atherton,
+with Rose in the motor beside him, drove over to Sherwood Hall to call
+for Polly and Sprite.
+
+"We're going for a long ride, Rose, so tell Polly and Sprite to take
+their coats."
+
+They were soon ready, and running down the walk, their coats on their
+arms.
+
+"Where are we going?" they cried, as they reached the sidewalk. Without
+waiting for an answer they clambered into the car.
+
+"Where are we going?" they asked again. "Oh, let's all three sit on
+one seat!"
+
+Uncle John turned to look at the three eager faces.
+
+"Well, well! What a lucky man I am!" he cried. "Three fine young ladies
+all out for a ride with me. Are you ready?"
+
+"All ready!" cried the merry chorus, "but where are we going?"
+
+"Now _that's_ my secret," Uncle John said, with a laugh, "but I will
+say that some business took me to a very charming place this morning,
+and I thought I'd like company on the way. I trust you're willing to
+go?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes!" cried three laughing voices.
+
+"Then we'll start at once," said Uncle John, as if he had been waiting
+in order to be re-assured.
+
+Over the road they flew, talking and laughing gaily.
+
+"Rose, do you know where we're going?" Polly asked.
+
+"Oh, her Uncle John would tell her," said Sprite.
+
+"He _didn't_" declared Rose, then; "_did_ you, Uncle John?" she cried.
+
+"I certainly did not tell Rose," he said, "and after another half hour
+has passed, you three little friends must commence to look about you,
+and see if you see anything that looks at all familiar."
+
+"Tell us when the half hour is up," said Polly, "and we'll begin
+looking."
+
+They were soon running along country roads, where men were busy in the
+fields, and where early fall wild flowers bordered the roads.
+
+Then in a brief space, they began to miss the wild flowers, and to
+notice bold bits of ledge, the roads became more sandy, and as they
+swung around a bend, they caught a glimpse of the sea.
+
+"Cliffmore! Oh, it's Cliffmore!" cried Sprite her hands tightly clasped,
+and her eyes bright as stars.
+
+"_Isn't_ it Cliffmore, Mr. Atherton?" she asked, her little hand patting
+his shoulder nervously, as she waited his reply.
+
+He stopped the car, and turned to gaze up into the lovely, eager face.
+
+Sprite, standing, her long golden hair blowing back from her face,
+looked for all the world like a sea fairy. Shading her eyes with her
+hand, she looked out across the sea that she loved so well.
+
+Then she turned to find his kind brown eyes looking up at her, as if
+he were about to speak.
+
+"Dear little girl, I have indeed brought you to Cliffmore. I was obliged
+to come here on a little business trip to look after some of my
+property, and I took you for sweet company, and because I thought we'd
+give two very dear people who live at the 'Syren's Cave,' a great
+surprise."
+
+"Oh, I hope father isn't out on the water," cried Sprite. "Mother will
+be there, but I want to see them both!"
+
+"I looked out for that," was the cheery reply, "and I wrote to tell
+Captain Seaford that I should call upon him to-day. I did not say that
+I should bring some callers with me."
+
+"Oh, what fun!" cried Polly.
+
+"_Won't_ they be surprised?" said Rose.
+
+Uncle John turned from the road, and out onto the beach.
+
+The tide was low, and they bowled along over the hard white sand,
+little Sprite sitting with her hands tightly clasped, and her eyes
+riveted upon the distant speck that she knew to be her home, while
+Rose on one side, and Polly on the other, closely watched her pretty,
+eager face.
+
+Captain Seaford, sitting just outside the door, was endeavoring to
+mend a net, but constant watching for the coming of Captain Atherton
+made the task of mending progress slowly.
+
+"I must spunk up a little," he said, "for I want to use this net," but
+in spite of his resolve, he was soon watching, as before, for the
+coming of his friend.
+
+At last he arose from the low stool on which he had been sitting,
+throwing the net down in a heap on the sand.
+
+Mrs. Seaford, seated indoors, was busy, her needle flying in and out,
+darning one of the captain's socks.
+
+"I can't keep my mind on my work," he said. "I tie a knot, and then
+look up to see if John Atherton is in sight. I never acted like that
+before. I'm always glad to see him, but for some strange reason, I
+can't wait patiently for him to arrive."
+
+"I'm doing the same thing," his wife said. "I can't keep my mind on
+this mending. I take three stitches and then look out of the window.
+Isn't it strange?"
+
+The honking of a horn made them hasten to the door.
+
+They saw the big car, they dimly saw Captain Atherton, Polly, and Rose,
+but with startling clearness they saw the one thing on earth that they
+held most dear,--little Sprite.
+
+She sprang from the car and ran to them, and what a greeting she
+received!
+
+Captain Seaford declared that it was the sunlight that made his eyes
+water, but gentle Mrs. Seaford made no excuse for her tear-wet lashes.
+
+When the first excitement was over, they were invited to come in and
+rest in the quaint living-room of the Seafords' home.
+
+"I thought when I read your letter, Captain Seaford, that you and your
+wife were missing little Sprite even more than you had dreamed possible.
+I have watched Sprite closely, and sometimes I have thought that she
+was homesick. If we make the trip once a fortnight, we shall all be
+happier."
+
+"Including yourself, John Atherton," said Captain Seaford, "for I know
+you as well as you know yourself. You are never quite content, unless
+planning pleasure for others. Oh, I know it, and it's no use to deny
+what I say."
+
+"As Captain Atherton is a truthful man, he's not likely to deny it,"
+said Mrs. Seaford, "and now if you will all enjoy a shore dinner, I'll
+ask you to be my guests."
+
+"I know of nothing more tempting," Captain Atherton said, and then,
+because he believed that Mrs. Seaford would enjoy an hour when she
+could have Sprite quite by herself, he took Rose and Princess Polly
+over to "The Cliffs," where they might amuse themselves, while he
+inspected the work that was being done.
+
+The time passed swiftly, and when Polly and Rose had seen all the
+places about the house where they had played during the summer, and
+Uncle John had satisfied himself that repairs that were being made
+wholly pleased him, they found that it was about the time that Mrs.
+Seaford had set for their return.
+
+"Come, ladies," he said, and they ran down the driveway, laughing and
+talking, and soon in the big car, were spinning down the beach.
+
+As they drew near to the "Syren's Cave," Captain Seaford at the door,
+sounded a long, sweet note on the horn. Polly and Rose waved their
+handkerchiefs, and Sprite ran out to greet them.
+
+It was a sunny day, with a fresh, cool breeze blowing from the East,
+and when they were seated around the table, the big tureen filled with
+hot chowder seemed just what their keen appetites craved.
+
+Boiled fish, garnished with cress followed the chowder, and simple
+pudding, served with cream, furnished the dessert.
+
+It surely was not an elaborate dinner, but to the guests it seemed the
+finest treat that they had ever enjoyed.
+
+The long ride in the fresh breeze had made them eager for the noon
+meal, and the sea food, daintily cooked, was a feast.
+
+They lingered at the table, and Mrs. Seaford, and the three little
+friends listened, and laughed at the merry stories that the two sea
+captains told.
+
+They were all in the big car when Captain Atherton said:
+
+"Oh, now I think of it; there's a package, and a basket in this car
+that I meant to leave here, if you'll kindly store them for me."
+
+Captain Seaford, never guessing what the parcel, or big basket
+contained, answered heartily:
+
+"Of course I'll store them for you, dear friend, as long as you like,"
+and he hastened to take them, carrying them into the house.
+
+"Good-byes" had been said, when John Atherton turned to say:
+
+"Oh, will you please open the parcel, and the basket. They're too
+tightly wrapped, I think."
+
+"Ah, I know now that 'tis for myself you wish me to store the heavy
+parcel, and the loaded basket. The heart within thy brave breast is
+bigger, and warmer than that of any man I ever knew."
+
+It was as Captain Seaford had said.
+
+When, with his wife beside him, he opened the basket, he found it
+filled with luscious fruit, beneath which lay a huge parcel of sugar.
+
+In the big bundle that the sturdy captain had found it a task to tug
+to the house, was another large bag of sugar, a bag of flour, a parcel
+containing beans, a giant squash, and tea and coffee.
+
+"Could he possibly know that at just this time, these gifts are
+especially welcome?" Mrs. Seaford asked.
+
+"I can't imagine how he could find that out, but surely they could not
+have come at a better time," was the earnest reply.
+
+He turned to hide the tears that had sprung to his honest eyes, when,
+for the first time, he saw a large firkin, set just inside the door,
+and, as if to keep it company, a large sack leaned against it. The
+firkin, as the captain had called it, proved to be a huge tub of fine
+butter, and the sack was filled with potatoes.
+
+A card was pinned to the sack.
+
+"These few articles I leave instead of my card.
+                                          John."
+
+"Ah, John Atherton, faithful friend, may every blessing be thine,"
+said Mrs. Seaford, with trembling lips, to which Captain Seaford,
+gently breathed, "Amen."
+
+On the inside of the cover of the butter tub was tacked this note:
+
+"A load of coal for winter comfort will arrive this afternoon. I
+_couldn't_ bring it in the auto.
+                                            John."
+
+"And see him make a joke by saying that he couldn't bring it in the
+auto!" said Captain Seaford, "and thus try to make light of his
+generosity. He doesn't blind us to his great goodness, though. He's
+one man of a thousand!"
+
+In the auto the three playmates were gaily talking, singing snatches
+of blithe little songs, as they sped along the beach, on the way to
+Avondale.
+
+"I've loved to be with you before this trip," said Sprite, "but
+sometimes I've longed to see home, but now that I'm to go there every
+fortnight I'll be gay, and happy all the time. Oh, Mr. Atherton, I
+thank you for promising that!"
+
+"And in return, little Sprite, I'll ask a favor," he said. "Call me
+'Uncle John,' just as Rose does, and Polly does the same."
+
+"Oh, I will, I _will_!" she cried. "I've always wanted to."
+
+"You will feel more at home with an uncle so near," he said, gently.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Already the boys and girls of Avondale were talking of the opening of
+school. Of all the eager ones, Sprite Seaford was the most excited.
+Her mother's careful training had fitted her for a class among girls
+of her own age, but she did not know that.
+
+She hoped that she might be in the class with Princess Polly, and Rose,
+but wherever her place in school might be, she was eager for the "first
+day" to arrive.
+
+One morning Polly and Sprite were on the piazza, before breakfast, and
+after pacing up and down for a while, they went down the steps, and
+around behind the house to search for Sir Mortimer.
+
+"He's sometimes in under the bushes taking a nap," said Polly, and
+they crouched to look under the shrubbery. An ear-piercing screech
+made them spring to their feet, and there, flying down the road, was
+Gyp, tearing along as if in fright, but what could so have startled
+wild, careless Gyp?
+
+He did not stop running, nor did he slacken his pace, but looking
+straight ahead, as if not daring to look back, to learn if he were
+followed, he raced down the street, fear plainly showing in every
+movement of his thin wiry legs.
+
+"What _could_ have frightened him?" Polly asked. Sprite could not
+guess.
+
+Now, slowly going over his beat a patrolman passed, walking along as
+if haste were a thing unheard of.
+
+"_That's_ what made him run!" cried Princess Polly.
+
+"What? The policeman!" cried Sprite. "Why he isn't chasing him."
+
+"Of course he isn't," Polly replied, "but Gyp is so afraid of any one
+of the policemen in this town, that he runs screaming just like that
+the minute he sees one."
+
+Together they watched, until Gyp was out of sight.
+
+"They say folks here in Avondale are going to _make_ Gyp go to school,"
+said Polly, "but I shouldn't think they could do it, and if they
+_could_, just think how he'd act!"
+
+"I can't think," said Sprite, her eyes dancing, "but I know I'll like
+to watch him the first day."
+
+"We couldn't watch him if we wanted to because he wouldn't be in our
+room," Polly said.
+
+"Well, then he'll be above us, because he's bigger than we are," said
+Sprite. Polly laughed as she said;
+
+"Oh, no he won't. He's _never_ been to school but a few months, as big
+as he is. He'll be in some class below us."
+
+"Why, then he'll be with _little_ children," said Sprite, "and won't
+he look funny when he's such a big boy?"
+
+"Well, that's where he'll have to be, _if_ they can make him go!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A DELIGHTFUL CALL
+
+
+One Saturday morning, Rose skipped along the sidewalk on the way to
+Aunt Judith's cottage. Her cheeks were very pink, and her eyes were
+bright.
+
+Uncle John was to take her with him in the big automobile that
+afternoon, and they were to call, he said, on a very dear friend of
+his.
+
+"Do I know her?" Rose had asked.
+
+"You _will_, when you see her," was the laughing reply.
+
+"Is it some one I've seen?" she asked, her face alight with interest.
+
+"Yes, and no," Uncle John said.
+
+"And that is all I'll tell you," he continued, "because I'd like you
+to recognize her at once, without any hint from me."
+
+"And I'll enjoy the forenoon with Aunt Judith," she said as she opened
+the little gate.
+
+Aunt Judith, sitting by the window saw her coming, and hastened to the
+door.
+
+"I've been watching a half hour to see you push open the gate, and
+come in," she said.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Judith! I'm not late," Rose said, "for look! I said I'd come
+over here at nine, and it's just nine by your clock."
+
+"Dear child, you are very prompt, and the only reason that I sat
+watching is because I wanted to see you the moment you came in sight.
+Now take off your things," she said, "and then we'll sit down, and
+talk over the plans for our party."
+
+Rose was delighted. What little girl wouldn't be?
+
+"First of all, dear, I had a great surprise this morning. A very great
+surprise, and your Uncle John Atherton gave it to me."
+
+"Oh, Uncle John is always doing something nice, for _somebody_!" cried
+Rose.
+
+"I never knew how good, how kind he could be," Aunt Judith said,
+brushing away a happy tear. "He came here one evening, and said he'd
+come to cheer me, and he certainly succeeded. We talked a little while,
+and in his pleasant way he questioned me, trying to learn if I was
+feeling prosperous. I didn't like to tell him, but he _made_ me, and
+Rose, my cellar is stocked with all the wood and coal that I could use
+this Winter. There are winter vegetables, apples, two big hams, a
+barrel of flour,--Rose! I never felt so rich in all my life! Think of
+it! Winter coming, and my cellar full!"
+
+"Oh, Aunt Judith! Do you wonder that I love him?"
+
+"Who could help it?" was the eager question, "And that's not all, for
+with the idea that he hadn't done _enough_, this morning when I opened
+my back door a neat looking little maid stood there.
+
+"I'm sent here, m'am, by your relative, Mr. Atherton, who says I'm to
+work for you until you get tired of me, which he says m'am, he hopes
+won't be soon."
+
+"I was tired this morning and when I found a little maid engaged to
+do my work for me, I couldn't speak for a moment, because I was so
+full of thanks, that they _almost_ choked me."
+
+"Now, you can stay in the dear little sitting-room, while the work in
+the kitchen is being done for you. No wonder you feel rich," cried
+Rose.
+
+"And now," said Aunt Judith, "we'll talk about the party."
+
+"Wait just a minute, 'til I get my little stool. There! _Now_ I'll
+listen, and I'm _wild_ to hear."
+
+"I wish this party to be as nearly as possible like the one that I
+enjoyed when I was little. First of all, I shall make some draperies
+for these windows of flowered chintz. I found a whole piece up in my
+store room the other day, and its gay flowered pattern looked very
+like the curtains in the home I so well remember. There are fine old
+hand-made rugs in the store room. I've never cared for them, but now
+I know that they will look right with the flowered chintz curtains.
+Now come and see what I have here in this little cupboard."
+
+"There! Won't these look bright and pretty on my mantel?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, lovely! Lovely!" cried Rose. "Where did you get them, and what
+are they called?"
+
+"They are called candelabra, and are really ornamental candlesticks.
+These clear, finely cut pendants of glass will catch and reflect light.
+We'll play old-fashioned games, we'll have an old-fashioned treat, and
+we'll wear real old-time costumes. It will not be a grand party, but
+I believe the children will enjoy it, for it will, at least, be
+different from any party that they have ever attended."
+
+Aunt Judith worked all the morning, stitching the hems for the chintz
+curtains, and Rose pulled out the bastings, threaded needles, and in
+many ways helped to make the pretty things for the little front parlor.
+
+"If it wasn't for school I could come again Monday and help you," Rose
+said.
+
+"I shall easily do all that is needed," Aunt Judith replied, "for now
+I have a little maid, I have more time for myself, and she said she
+would be pleased to help me decorate for the party. I think she really
+wishes to have a part in the preparations."
+
+"You have beautiful old china," said Rose, "and the boys and girls
+will like the nice things served on such pretty plates."
+
+"Now, go into the next room, and see what I left hanging over a chair.
+You may try it on, and then come out here, and let me see you," Aunt
+Judith said.
+
+"What fun!" cried Rose, and she laughed gaily as she ran to "try on"
+the quaint costume.
+
+"Oh, the beautiful dress!" she said when she saw the dainty frock that
+Aunt Judith had chosen for her. She quickly removed her own dress, and
+soon she was looking at her reflection in the mirror. She took the
+hand mirror, that she might see the back of the costume.
+
+The little maid peeped in. She, too, had been trying on the quaint
+dress that Aunt Judith intended her to wear.
+
+And when at last the little clock chimed the hour at which she had
+promised to leave the cottage that she might be at home to lunch with
+Uncle John, she said "goodbye," and ran down the path, her mind filled
+with thoughts of the promised party, and of the delight of her playmates
+when they should be entertained by Aunt Judith, and for the first time,
+be a part of an old-fashioned party.
+
+Uncle John was on the broad piazza waiting for her, and together they
+went in to lunch. Later, in the big automobile, they rode in a different
+direction from any that Rose had ever travelled over, and she looked
+up at Uncle John, as if she were wondering if he had forgotten that
+there was a call to be made before they turn homeward.
+
+He turned to the right, and then, after a short ride, drove up a long
+private avenue bordered with odd, foreign-looking trees. Although the
+foliage was gone, one could see by the form of the trunk and branches
+that they were not the trees usually seen at Avondale. The house, a
+stately homestead, stood well back from the street, and the porch,
+with its colonial pillars, gave grandeur to the entrance. And when
+they were seated in the handsome parlor, Rose looked about her, and
+wondered who it might be that Uncle John had brought her to see.
+
+A slight sound, a rustling of silken drapery, and a young woman, lovely
+as a vision, entered, offered her hand to Captain Atherton, and then
+turning, she looked at the little girl whose brown eyes told of
+admiration.
+
+"And this, John, is Rose? Little Rose Atherton?"
+
+"This truly is my little Rose. And now, Rose, this is Miss Iris
+Vandmere, and I wish you two to be the best of friends. Tell me, do
+you remember if you have ever met her, or seen her before to-day?"
+
+"Oh, yes, _yes_!" cried Rose. "She is the lovely lady in the locket
+picture, I _know_ she is!"
+
+"I am, indeed, the girl in the locket miniature, and now, as you have
+seen me before coming here, don't look upon me as a stranger. I want
+you to learn to like me, dear."
+
+There was pleading in the sweet voice, and Rose took the slender white
+hand in hers.
+
+"I won't have to learn to _like_ you, because I _love_ you now. Anyone
+would love you, you are so sweet, so bright to look at," Rose said,
+and Iris bent her lovely head, and kissed the upturned face.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Oh, Uncle John! There _never was_, there _never will be_ anyone so
+dear, so lovely," sighed Rose, when they were once more in the
+automobile. "See how sweet she looks, waving her hand to us! When will
+you take me to her again?"
+
+"Rose, little girl, you have pleased me to-day, and you shall often
+go with me to the beautiful old house, to see the beautiful girl who
+lives there. As I said this afternoon, I wish you to be the best of
+friends."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of course the news of Aunt Judith's party flew through the neighborhood,
+and many were the questions that Rose was asked to answer.
+
+To each, she shook her curly head, and made the same reply.
+
+"Aunt Judith intends it to be quaint, and everything will be
+old-fashioned, and we are all to wear real old-time costumes, but that
+is all I will tell you, because Aunt Judith wishes it to seem quaint,
+and a bit of a surprise when you come. It won't be any surprise at all
+if I tell you all about it now."
+
+"Don't you tell it, Rose, not even to me," said Princess Polly.
+
+"Nor me!" cried Sprite.
+
+"If she's kind enough to plan a party for us children, we ought to let
+her have it just as she wishes it to be."
+
+Gyp sat upon the wall, listening to all that was being said. He was
+full of mischief, and often he had annoyed Aunt Judith with his pranks.
+
+"She's agoin' ter make a party fer 'em!" he said to himself.
+
+He still sat on the wall, swinging his skinny legs when those who had
+stood talking of the event had walked together down the street. Polly
+and Sprite had lagged behind to talk with Rose until a maid had called
+to Polly that Mrs. Sherwood wished them to come in.
+
+Rose turned toward home, and was humming as she walked along, when she
+heard her name called softly.
+
+She looked up and down the street. Then she saw Gyp.
+
+"Do you know who called me?" she asked.
+
+"Yep!" he answered, pertly.
+
+"Well, who did?" queried Rose.
+
+"I did," he said, watching her closely. "I axed yer is she going ter
+have a _big_ party?"
+
+"She can't. It would be too costly, and the cottage is too small, but
+she is generous and kind to give us any party at all, and oh, Gyp!"
+she cried, moving nearer to him, "I _do_ wish you wouldn't tease her."
+
+Gyp wriggled.
+
+"She said she hated me!" he said.
+
+"Well, she _might_ have been angry, but she likes boys. I've heard her
+say so," Rose replied.
+
+"I ain't just a boy. I'm a _Gypsy_ boy. That's _different_."
+
+"Princess Polly is always kind to her, and I _know_ it would please
+her if you stopped teasing Aunt Judith," Rose said.
+
+That was just the thing to have said!
+
+Gyp was determined to win Polly's approval at all costs. He sprang
+from the low wall, and rushed off to the old shanty that his family
+called "home."
+
+There he found an old basket, and rushing off into the heart of the
+woods, he returned with a quantity of fine shellbarks that he had
+gathered and hoarded. Two days before the party was to occur he obtained
+a flour bag, no one knew how, emptied the basket of nuts into it,
+filling it about three-quarters full.
+
+Long and hard he labored over the note that he tied to the bag. Sneaking
+to the back door of the cottage, he dropped the bag on the upper step,
+gave a tremendous knock, and then raced off to the woods.
+
+Aunt Judith was more than half afraid to open the big bag, but finally,
+gathering courage, she cut the string, and then peeped in.
+
+The laboriously written note fell to the floor. She picked it up, and
+for a moment, stared at it in great surprise.
+
+"Ter Missis Ant Joodith Im sory ive evir plagd yer an them nutts is
+4 yor party coss I want yer ter no I meen whut i say. Arftur this I
+wil tri hard ter be yor frend,
+
+                                            "Gyp."
+
+"Well, of all things!" she cried, when at last she had made sense out
+of the fearfully spelled note.
+
+"Poor, wild Gyp! Who ever dreamed that he had a heart or a conscience!
+Indeed he shall be my friend if that will keep him from annoying me,
+and perhaps I can find a way to befriend him.
+
+"Everyone is ready to lift a hand against him, so that there is nothing
+to tempt him to be really good, nor to encourage him to try.
+
+"Strange little Arab! I wonder what prompted him to give his store of
+nuts to me, and really that fearfully spelled note has a bit of
+sincerity in it. I must tell John Atherton about it. I'll keep the
+note, and show it to him."
+
+Often she paused to take the note from its retreat behind the clock,
+read it, and replace it. She looked from the window whenever she passed
+it, but not a glimpse of Gyp did she obtain.
+
+She could not imagine what had caused the little imp to leave his gift
+of nuts at her door, or yet more wonderful, what had prompted him to
+write his friendly little note. Its outrageous spelling was droll, but
+its kindly spirit was evident. He had attended school because he was
+compelled to, but he had paid but little attention to his books.
+
+The note had kept him busy for fully a half hour, and he considered
+it a fine specimen of letter writing when it was completed.
+
+He thought that few boys could have done better, and he felt that in
+writing it, he had literally "covered himself with glory."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AUNT JUDITH'S PARTY
+
+
+The flowered chintz draperies hung at the windows, the pink roses, and
+green leaves on its shiny surface looked fairly gaudy. The candles
+danced and flickered in the candelabra, evergreen framed every picture
+on the walls.
+
+Aunt Judith's quaint sofa and chairs had always been covered with
+crimson repp, and the color seemed brighter in the evening light.
+
+The old hand-made rugs looked quaint upon the floor, and the logs in
+the grate burned gaily, as if anticipating the arrival of the little
+guests.
+
+Of all the fine, quaint things in the room, Aunt Judith was surely the
+finest, and the quaintest. Her gown was of old-time print, a white
+ground upon which bouquets of pansies, purple and yellow, had been
+finely printed. Her black eyes were bright with excitement, and in her
+glossy black hair, she had placed an old silver comb.
+
+Her sleeves were elbow length, and she wore long black silk mitts. She
+had made her toilette with great care, and she now stood on the hearth
+rug, nervously opening and shutting a small folding fan.
+
+The little maid peeped in.
+
+"Please ma'am, I hear 'em comin'," she said.
+
+"Wait 'til they ring, and then answer the bell," said Aunt Judith.
+
+The little maid looked very pretty, and she was delighted to be "in
+costume," for the occasion. Her skirt, of heavy cotton, was white,
+with wide pink stripes. Her waist was blue with a large white kerchief,
+and on her flaxen head was a white cap with a frill that made her rosy
+little face quite pleasing.
+
+Greta liked her new place. She liked her new mistress, too, and the
+work at the little cottage was light.
+
+Aunt Judith was a worker, and together they kept the pretty rooms in
+perfect order.
+
+The bell rang sharply, Greta opened the door, and the quaintest little
+figures that ever were seen came tripping into the hall.
+
+It was not to be a ceremonious affair, so Greta took their wraps at
+the door, and they entered the little parlor to greet Aunt Judith.
+
+Princess Polly in crisp print, with yellow primroses on a white ground,
+a pale green kerchief, and yellow ribbons in her hair, was fair, and
+lovely to look upon.
+
+Rob Lindsey in brown homespun with a yellow vest, walked beside her,
+looking very like a lad of the olden time.
+
+Lena Lindsey, in a green and white striped gown, a wreath of white
+roses and green leaves in her hair, with Leslie Grafton in scarlet
+linen with white lace frills at her neck, and in her sleeves, were two
+quaint lassies, and Harry Grafton in gray linen with huge white collar,
+and gaily flowered tie, made a trio that delighted Aunt Judith.
+
+She had asked Rose to come as a guest, instead of standing with her
+to receive.
+
+She had wished to see dear little Rose Atherton among her other guests,
+simply because she thus could see her more in the same way that she
+saw the other children, and she wanted to judge if she looked like
+that other little Rose Atherton who once had worn that same gown.
+
+Uncle John knew that it was to be a children's party, but he decided
+to accept Aunt Judith's invitation to be present, and enjoy their
+pleasure with her.
+
+Shouts of laughter greeted his costume! Knee breeches of yellow linen,
+a waistcoat of white linen damask, with lace frills on his bosom and
+at his wrists, together with a coat of flowered striped material, made
+him look like some old portrait suddenly alive.
+
+Rose close beside him, in the pretty frock that Aunt Judith had loaned
+her, clung to his right arm as they entered together, little Sprite
+Seaford on his left.
+
+Her gown was one that her great grand aunt had once worn, and it was
+most becoming. Uncle John Atherton had especially asked her to go to
+the party with Rose and himself. Her yellow hair was braided in two
+long braids and crowned with a muslin cap. Her frock was blue, with
+white blossoms upon it, and from its belt hung a steel bead bag that
+held her handkerchief.
+
+Gwen was not invited.
+
+Aunt Judith detested her rude ways, and she would not choose a guest
+who might spoil a pleasant evening by her bad behavior.
+
+A young friend of Uncle John's arrived a bit late, and surely his
+costume was the most unusual of any of the guests. Captain Atherton
+had seen the little suit in an antique shop in England. He had purchased
+it, believing that some such occasion as the present might occur, when
+the droll coat and trousers, the little waistcoat, and the comical cap
+would be just the thing for a slender lad to wear. Walter Langdon was
+indeed a quaint figure, as, with Captain Atherton, he went forward to
+greet Aunt Judith, and be introduced to the other guests.
+
+His coat, a funny little "swallow tail," was of yellow green, his
+trousers matched it, his waistcoat, or vest, was striped, lilac and
+white, and his cap, green like the suit, had a long tassel hanging
+down on one side. His fair hair, in a soft bang, showed below the edge
+of his cap, and his eyes, wide open and merry, appeared to be just
+ready for a gay laugh.
+
+He knew that he looked absolutely comical, and he thought it great fun
+to appear at the party in a costume that provoked laughter. He proved
+to be a bright, cheery boy, full of fun, and wit, and soon the other
+boys and girls felt as if they had always known him.
+
+Uncle John wore a costume that had belonged to his great, great uncle,
+and he looked very handsome in it. He made them all laugh by saying
+that he wished that his ancestor had been just a wee bit larger, because
+then the suit would have been somewhat easier, instead of such a _close
+fit_.
+
+But while he seemed pleased with all of his new friends, it was Rose
+Atherton whom Walter liked best of all.
+
+"And now," said Aunt Judith, "I've tried to make this party a truly
+old-fashioned one, and what do you say to playing some very
+old-fashioned games?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes!" they cried. "What shall we play first?"
+
+"Blind Man's Buff," cried Uncle John, "and I'll blind first. Here,
+Rose! Tie this handkerchief over my eyes!"
+
+Rose tied the handkerchief, and then the fun began.
+
+"He's peeking!" cried Walter, "so he can be sure to catch Rose."
+
+"I'm not peeking. Honest _Injun_!" declared Uncle John, exactly as he
+had heard the boys say it.
+
+"Catch _me_!" cried Leslie, at the same time dodging him, and he grasped
+empty air.
+
+"And _me_!" cried Lena, just behind him, springing past him as he
+turned.
+
+Sprite made no sound as she tried to pass him, but was just a bit too
+slow, and he caught her.
+
+"Ah, I know who I've found!" he cried, "because no other little girl
+but Sprite has such long, silken braids."
+
+He lifted the handkerchief, and laughed to see her blushing cheeks.
+
+It was now Sprite's turn. Slowly she advanced, her pretty hands
+outstretched, and oddly enough she at once caught Lena Lindsey. Her
+little face was puzzled, and earnest, as she felt of the hair, the
+cap, and the gown. Then, in an instant, she passed her slender fingers
+over the chin.
+
+She laughed merrily.
+
+"It's Lena!" she cried gaily, "for it is Lena who has a deep dimple
+in her chin!"
+
+Each took his turn at being blindfolded, and then "Post office" was
+announced.
+
+Polly received a great batch of letters, and it was Rob, of course,
+who "_mailed_" them. Polly sent five "letters" to Rose, Rose had ten
+for Uncle John, Uncle John had two for Aunt Judith, who protested
+that she was "not a child."
+
+"Neither am I," he said.
+
+Aunt Judith chose little Sprite, then Sprite chose Harry Grafton. Harry
+had five letters for Polly, and Polly had one for Walter, who declared
+that he _found two_!
+
+"Copenhagen" was the next, and "Pillow" was the next.
+
+Princess Polly, Rose and Sprite were the most favored of all the little
+lassies, and it would have been hard to say which of the three was the
+most popular.
+
+They were now a bit tired, and while they were resting, Aunt Judith
+told a long story of a most exciting sleighing party that she once
+experienced, when the horses became frightened, and went plunging over
+the snow covered fields, having left the roadway far behind.
+
+Then Uncle John matched it with a vivid tale of an encounter with a
+vessel manned by ocean outlaws. The children held their breath, and
+they felt very warm and cosey and secure, as they sat watching the
+dancing flames, and listening to tales of adventure.
+
+"Now let us all enjoy a simple, old-time treat," said Aunt Judith. She
+tapped a tiny silver bell, and the pretty maid in her striped gown and
+kerchief appeared with a tray on which were little sandwiches cut in
+fancy shapes, and filled with chicken, others filled with lettuce, and
+yet others with chopped nuts. Gyp did not dream that nuts were ever
+served thus.
+
+There were plates of dainty cakes, and tiny wine glasses filled to the
+brim with delicious raspberry shrub. How the children enjoyed the
+simple treat!
+
+The sandwiches and cakes disappeared like magic, and the wee wine
+glasses were filled again and again with the spiced raspberry juice.
+
+Greta piled her tray with an extra supply, and returned to the parlor,
+where the children were chattering like sparrows while they enjoyed
+the treat.
+
+"I think this is a lovely party," said Princess Polly.
+
+"So do I!" cried the others, as if with one voice.
+
+"I think these are the nicest boys and girls I ever met," said Walter,
+adding, "_especially_ the girls."
+
+His merry gray eyes were laughing, and Uncle John said, as he looked
+at the eager, boyish face:
+
+"You shall come often to my home here at Avondale, and become even
+better acquainted with my young friends, and neighbors."
+
+"I'd like to, sir," Walter replied, "for I want them to be _my_
+friends."
+
+"We _will_! We _will_!" cried an eager chorus.
+
+It was later than they dreamed when the clock chimed the hour, and
+they took leave of Aunt Judith telling her how quaint and delightful
+the party had been, and how truly they had enjoyed the evening. Captain
+Atherton took the entire party under his protection, and they walked
+home together, talking all the way of the kindness of Aunt Judith in
+planning the pleasure for them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Very early next morning an impish figure sat astride the old wooden
+pump that stood near the door of the cottage.
+
+He seemed to have no interest in anything save that door, and he sat
+very still, his eyes riveted upon it.
+
+The old pump had not been used in years, but it served for a fine
+pedestal for Gyp.
+
+At last he heard the key turn in the lock, and he was all attention.
+
+The little maid opened it, and took in the milk jar.
+
+"Where's _her_?" he demanded. "I want ter see _her_!"
+
+Greta nodded, and ran in to call Aunt Judith.
+
+"There's the queerest looking boy sitting out on top of the old wooden
+pump, and he says he wants to see you," said Greta.
+
+Half guessing who it was, for what other boy would make an early morning
+call, and choose so odd a seat while he waited, Aunt Judith went to
+the door, and looked out.
+
+"Did you wish to see me?" she asked with a pleasant smile, but Gyp had
+apparently forgotten what he had intended to say.
+
+"The nuts were fine," Aunt Judith said, "and I want to thank you for
+them."
+
+"_That's_ what I came fer. I wanted ter know if them nuts was any
+good?"
+
+"They were very nice indeed, and Gyp, I'll give you something that
+will show you just what I did with them. Wait a moment."
+
+Gyp waited, wondering if he had quite understood her. Who had ever
+given him anything?
+
+Aunt Judith came to the door with a plate of sandwiches.
+
+"There, Gyp," she said, "those sandwiches on that side of the plate
+are chicken but these on this side are filled with some of your nuts."
+
+"Oh, who ever heard of bread stuffed with nuts!" he cried. "They're
+_great_!" he cried a moment later, "but I don't want the plate. We
+take what we eat in our _hands_ at home."
+
+He suited the action to the words, for although the sandwiches were
+small, he managed to grasp one with both hands, demonstrating that it
+could be done.
+
+"That was a kind little note that you sent with the bag of nuts," Aunt
+Judith said, "and since you've promised to be _my_ friend, Gyp, I
+promise to be _yours_."
+
+"All right!" cried Gyp, "when does it begin?'
+
+"What?" she asked in surprise.
+
+"Why, _us_ bein' friends," said Gyp.
+
+"_Now_, Gyp, my boy. _Now_!" said Aunt Judith. "Come in and we'll talk
+it over."
+
+"Oo-o-o! Not now!" cried Gyp, "but to-night, if I darest ter, I'll
+dress up, and come."
+
+He slid down from the tall old wooden pump, gave three wild hops, and
+then raced off across the field toward the old shed-like building that
+he called home.
+
+She watched his flying figure from the doorway, and as he disappeared
+behind a clump of bushes, she turned, and closed the door.
+
+"Strange, wild little fellow!" she said. "I wonder if he'll come!" And
+when night came, she found herself listening for the sound of a quick
+step.
+
+At last it came, and quickly Aunt Judith opened the door. Gyp walked
+in very meekly, and sat on the edge of a chair seat, his old hat in
+his hands. His hair was painfully smooth, and he wore a bright striped
+shirt, an old red tie, and while his suit could hardly be called
+"dressy," it certainly showed that the boy had brushed it, and that
+he had tried to improve his appearance.
+
+At school he had learned that he must remove his hat when he entered
+a room, a fact that had greatly surprised him, but he had remembered
+it.
+
+Aunt Judith felt that she must work carefully, lest Gyp be seized with
+fear, and bolt for the door, and freedom.
+
+Gently she told him how, by doing his best, he would find friends who
+would deal kindly with him. That he might have friends if he chose,
+and that he could, by good behavior, force them to respect him.
+
+"I will be your friend," she said, "and Gyp, let me prove it. Rose
+tells me that you find your lessons hard to master. Bring them to me
+evenings, and I will help you with them. You may come Wednesday, and
+Saturday evenings, and perhaps you can win promotion, so as to climb
+steadily up to a class of your own age."
+
+"Do you think I _could?_" he asked. "Would they _let_ me?"
+
+"_Make_ them do it, Gyp. You're smart enough. Come! What do you say?
+Let's try," Aunt Judith said.
+
+"I'll do it," he said, "and if you help me, maybe I can get out of
+that class. They laugh at me, and it makes me mad to be called 'baby.'"
+
+"Come over here with your books Saturday evening, and we'll see what
+we two can do," was the earnest reply.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+GYP'S AMBITION
+
+
+Gyp sauntered along on the way to school, a thoughtful expression
+making his face less reckless than usual.
+
+"Looks 's if 'twould pay ter be decent," he said, half aloud.
+
+He was very quiet, and the teacher questioned if he were planning
+mischief. The little pupils watched him, and wondered when his
+restlessness would begin.
+
+His teacher wondered, too, but Gyp kept his eyes on his book, and
+appeared not to know that he was being watched.
+
+For the first time since he had been forced to attend school, he had
+a perfect spelling lesson.
+
+He stumbled over every long word in the reading lesson, however, and
+the problems in arithmetic puzzled him completely.
+
+If the arithmetic had seemed easier he might not have appealed so
+promptly to Aunt Judith for aid, but the young teacher was unable to
+make it clear to him, and when evening came, he raced across the fields,
+his book under his arm, and tapped at her door.
+
+"Ah, you've come, Gyp!" she said, smiling at him encouragingly, "I
+hoped you would."
+
+"You said Wednesday and Saturday, an' this is only Tuesday, but I can't
+get my lesson for termorrer 'less someone helps me," he said.
+
+"There is no reason why you may not stay to-night," Aunt Judith said,
+kindly, "and now tell me what it was that made the arithmetic so hard
+today."
+
+"She asked me if I had ten pears, and I wanted to keep one for myself,
+and divide the others between two of my friends, how many would I give
+each, and I told her I'd keep more than one for myself, and I didn't
+know two _anybodies_ I'd want to give the others to, and then they all
+laughed. I don't see why."
+
+Aunt Judith was trying not to laugh as heartily as the little pupils
+whose merriment had so annoyed Gyp.
+
+"And the next thing she asked was about dividing pears, too. Don't
+folks divide anything but _pears_? They don't in the arithmetic!"
+
+"Oh, Gyp, Gyp!" cried Aunt Judith, and the puzzled boy laughed with
+her, because he could not help it.
+
+He did not mind her laughter. Indeed, he already felt better acquainted
+with her, because they had laughed together. The laughter of the little
+pupils had maddened him, but that was different.
+
+"_They_ laughed _at_ me, but _you_ laugh _with_ me," he said, with
+quick understanding.
+
+"And I'll _work_ with you, Gyp," was the pleasant answer, and the boy
+at once opened his book.
+
+When Gyp took his cap and started for home, after two hours spent at
+the cottage, he had a better understanding of figures, and their use,
+and the actual worth of arithmetic, than he had obtained, thus far,
+in his daily attendance at school.
+
+"Why, Gyp," Aunt Judith had said, in reply to his statement that he
+"didn't see any use for arithmetic," "you mustn't grow to manhood with
+no knowledge of arithmetic, or knowledge of figures, or how to reckon.
+When you go to work you will need this knowledge. There are few things
+that you can do that will not be easier, or better done, and perhaps
+be better paid for if you are 'quick at figures.' You must not always
+live like a gypsy. You must learn all you can while you are at school,
+and then you must work, and earn, and try to be a good, and useful
+man. You _can_, I know, if you _try_."
+
+Gyp thought of Aunt Judith's words as he lay on his rude bed that
+night.
+
+"She said I needn't always live like a gypsy," he murmured. "She said
+I could learn, and then some time I could earn."
+
+He lay a long time, wide awake, repeating Aunt Judith's words of cheer,
+and each time that he whispered them, he grew braver, and more
+determined.
+
+"They've always said, 'Oh, he's only a gypsy,' but I'll learn, and
+I'll earn, and I'll do something. I don't know what, but I'll do
+something, see 'f I don't!"
+
+There was no one to dispute his statement, and he dropped to sleep,
+and dreamed of doing great deeds.
+
+Ever since he could remember, he had heard the boys of Avondale speak
+as if he were a gypsy, and as if that fact explained every bit of
+mischief that he did. He had always felt that, being a gypsy, there
+was no chance for him in any walk of life, and that, therefore, there
+was simply no use to try.
+
+Now a new light had dawned, and with it came hope, cheer, determination,
+to succeed.
+
+"I'll do it," he murmured in his sleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Soon it was whispered that Gyp was working hard at school for promotion,
+and when he took his place in a class higher, he held his head high,
+and bravely worked at his lessons. Aunt Judith stood by him, and
+Wednesday and Saturday evenings, rain or shine, he spent at her little
+home, working with all his might to improve.
+
+In the middle of the term, because of extra work that he had done under
+her instruction, he was again promoted.
+
+He was steadily "catching up" with the boys of his own age. Those boys
+had now ceased to laugh at Gyp. He was winning their respect.
+
+Sprite Seaford was another pupil who was working faithfully. She knew
+that her dear father and mother had made a great sacrifice when they
+had decided to live through the Fall, the Winter and, the Spring in
+the old house on the shore, without the little daughter, whose face
+was like sunshine, whose voice was music in the home.
+
+There were times when Sprite was homesick, but those were the rare
+occasions when she chanced to be alone. Just now she was very happy.
+The weather was mild. All snow had vanished beneath the warm rays of
+the sun, and she ran out to know if it were really as warm as it looked.
+The tall evergreen trees and hedges shone dark against the sky, and
+Sprite stood looking at them. She had taken part in a little play on
+the week before, and some of the lines now flitted through her mind,
+and she lifted her pretty arms in graceful gesture. With the dark trees
+and low shrubbery behind her, she recited the lines with appropriate
+gesture, and telling effect.
+
+Six small girls had taken part in the little play, and each had been
+chosen by Miss Kenyon, because of her talent for speaking. Sprite,
+with her long, golden hair, and her slender figure, had been cast for
+the fairy queen, whose delight it was to grant the wishes of all good
+children.
+
+Now she stepped out into an open space, the beautiful garden making
+a lovely background for her figure. Gracefully she stood as she recited
+a verse that had been a part of the fairy play.
+
+   "If you're striving to excel,
+    And your very best you do,
+    You shall be rewarded well;
+    I will make your wish come true."
+
+A dark figure crouched behind a clump of underbrush that the gardener
+had thought too pretty to cut down.
+
+Through snow and ice the red leaves had clung to the little scrub oak,
+and now that a mild day had come, the leaves looked very bright as the
+sun lay on them.
+
+The figure hiding there was Gyp, and his eyes grew brighter as he heard
+the little verse.
+
+He stirred uneasily.
+
+Sprite, believing herself to be alone, repeated the verse with even
+greater spirit than before, and as she spoke the last line, Gyp sprang
+to his feet.
+
+"I will make your wish come true," said Sprite, whereat Gyp sprang
+from his hiding-place, crying:
+
+"Oh, _will_ yer? _Will_ yer? _Are_ ye a fairy? _Kin_ yer grant my
+wish?"
+
+All the superstition of his race showed in his eager face.
+
+Sprite seemed neither afraid nor startled, nor was she annoyed at the
+interruption. For, a second she looked in gentle surprise at the boy's
+dark, eager face.
+
+Then a look of pity made her eyes very soft.
+
+"Oh, Gyp!" she cried, "what is the wish you want granted? I'm not a
+fairy, so of course I can't grant it, but,--Oh, Gyp! I'm awfully sorry.
+Tell me what the wish is! Sometimes it helps to tell."
+
+Pityingly, and more like a little woman than like the child that she
+was, she spoke to comfort him.
+
+For a moment he felt abashed that he had so plainly shown the longing
+in his heart, then as she asked again, he cried:
+
+"I want to be _someone_. I want a chance to be _something_ besides
+Gyp, the gypsy boy."
+
+"Oh, then that's almost granted _now_!" she cried in quick relief,
+"because I heard the teacher say, the other day:
+
+"'That boy will get there! That boy will be someone worth while, and
+I mean to help him.'"
+
+"Did she say _that_?" cried Gyp, his eyes showing how little he dreamed
+that the work that he was doing was being noticed.
+
+"She truly did," said Sprite, "so while I couldn't grant your wish,
+I _could_ tell you that it would come true, and I'm glad of that."
+
+"So'm I," agreed Gyp, "but don't yer tell any of the others that I
+thought yer was a fairy, will yer?"
+
+She promised faithfully, and when he had thanked her for what she had
+told him, and for the promise that she had just made, he turned and,
+as usual, ran off to the woods.
+
+Sprite stood watching him as he ran, like the wind across the fields,
+and even as she looked he turned, paused a moment, and waved his hand
+to the little waiting figure.
+
+Quickly she lifted hers, and returned his salute.
+
+He stood just a second, waved his hand again, and then plunged into
+the thicket.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When he entered the old shack that he called "home," he found his
+mother stirring a steaming mass that nearly filled the huge iron kettle
+that stood on the rusty stove.
+
+His small brothers and sisters formed a half circle around her, watching
+every movement that helped to prepare the dinner. They were all much
+younger than Gyp, and only one, a girl, was yet of school age.
+
+"They'll be comin' after yer ter make me let ye go ter school same's
+Gyp," the woman was saying, as the boy opened the door, "but I need
+ye ter home this Winter ter help me, sure's my name is Gifford."
+
+"_Is_ yer name Gifford?" Gyp asked in surprise.
+
+"Of course 'tis, Gyp. Why d'ye ask? Ain't ye never heard that before?"
+she asked, sharply.
+
+"Never heard us folks called anything but gypsies," he replied.
+
+"Well, how could ye? Don't no one never come here," his mother said,
+with fearful disregard of grammar.
+
+"Then why isn't _my_ name Gifford, too?" he persisted.
+
+"Wal, _'tis_. Ye was named John, John Gifford, but ye couldn't seem
+ter say that in yer baby days, so ye left off the 'John,' and called,
+'Gifford,' 'Gyp,' an' 'Gyp' it has been ever since. Don't they call
+ye that at school? I told the ol' feller what come ter say ye must
+'tend school that that was yer name."
+
+Gyp did not reply.
+
+He thought best to be silent, and picking up one of his books, he
+studied until dinner was ready.
+
+No time was wasted in serving. A very small low table was dragged to
+the center of the floor, the kettle was placed upon it, and then, a
+hungry circle, they swarmed around it.
+
+The soup was very hot, but each was provided with a long slice of
+bread, and these they dipped into the soup, blowing it for a moment,
+and then eating it ravenously.
+
+Gyp ate, as the others did. What else could he do? He had caught
+glimpses, now and then, of a better way of living, and in his heart
+he thought;
+
+"I will not always live like a gypsy."
+
+His teacher had called him "Gyp" as others did.
+
+The next day, he appeared very early at school, and astonished her by
+asking shyly if she would call him, by his name, "John."
+
+"Certainly, if you wish it," she said.
+
+"I thought you liked to be called Gyp, and would feel more at home if
+I called you that."
+
+"That's _just_ it!" he cried, in quick anger, "I _would_ 'feel at home'
+with that old name, but I don't want to '_feel at home_.' I'll not
+_always_ live like a gypsy, and I want a decent name, like other boys!"
+
+"That's _right_, Gyp, no _John_!" she said, and both smiled to see how
+difficult it was to remember the new name.
+
+"You can be so good and useful that every man, woman and child in
+Avondale will be forced to respect the name of John Gifford. I will
+speak of this to the pupils, and now that they all see how hard you
+are trying to gain knowledge, I think they will be willing to call you
+by the name that is really yours. Remember this, however. Don't be
+offended if sometimes we forget, and call you 'Gyp.' It may mean only
+that we remember the boy who, while still thus addressed, made
+persistent effort to improve."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was great excitement one Wednesday morning when dainty invitations
+were received by all the boys and girls who usually played together,
+requesting the pleasure of their company two weeks from that night,
+at the home of John Atherton.
+
+"Festivities to commence at eight," was inscribed in gold letters at
+the bottom of the page.
+
+"Oh, Rose, I ought not to ask," said Princess Polly, "and I won't ask
+_what_ the festivities are to be, but I'll ask you if you know?'
+
+"Not the least thing," Rose replied, "and when I asked Uncle John, he
+only laughed, and said that was his little secret, so we'll have to
+wait 'til the night of the party to know what he has planned. The only
+thing that he has told me is that on the night of the party, Sprite
+is to remain at our house and that will be the first night of her visit
+with us."
+
+"I know that," Princess Polly said, "because he told papa that the
+time for Sprite to be with him was close at hand, and papa said that
+he knew that we had had our share of her visit, but she has been so
+sweet, so dear, that we'd never be ready to let her go."
+
+"That's just the reason we want her, for truly, Princess Polly, next
+to you, Sprite is the sweetest girl I know. There's no girl quite so
+dear as you, Polly, but surely Sprite comes the very next," Rose said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A JOLLY TIME
+
+
+Gwen Harcourt felt that in leaving school at Avondale, and entering
+a small private school in the next town she was really doing something
+quite fine.
+
+To be sure, the little school was not much of a school. Rather it
+should have been called a private _class_, and the little pupils met
+at the home of a young woman who was far from well equipped for the
+task of directing their studies, or training their minds.
+
+She had acquired a fair education, but so little governing power had
+she that the pupils did about as they chose, and that Gwen considered
+the most charming fact regarding the class.
+
+She thought it very smart to go over to the station, walk up and down
+the platform waiting for the train, and then, seated in the car, offer
+her ticket to the conductor when he came down the aisle.
+
+"The Avondale girls and boys just walk to school, but I have to take
+a train!" she said to herself one morning, as she hurried toward the
+station.
+
+One might have thought it a _convenience_ to live at a distance from
+the school. The next town was a mile from Avondale, and Gwen thought
+it very daring to take the trip alone.
+
+"It makes me sick to listen when Gwen Harcourt is talking about going
+to school," said Rob. "She thinks it a great thing to ride a mile! If
+she had to ride twenty-five miles, she'd feel so big that Avondale
+would not be big enough to hold her."
+
+Rob Lindsey had met Gwen near the station, and she had looked at him
+as sharply as if she had not seen him for a year.
+
+"Do you _still_ go to school at Avondale?" she asked.
+
+"Why, yes," Rob said. "Did you think we commenced to stay at home when
+_you_ left?"
+
+"Well, I wouldn't go back there for anything!" declared Gwen. "My mamma
+calls me a very wonderful child, and when she told my new teacher that,
+she said to mamma; 'I know she's an unusual child. I can see that at
+a glance.'"
+
+"Perhaps she'd call _me_ wonderful if I engaged her to do so. I might
+tell her to just look at me and say if she'd give me a prize."
+
+Lena laughed at Rob's disgust.
+
+"I wonder if she will think any parties that are given at Avondale are
+too _near_ to be interesting?" she said.
+
+"I wouldn't risk inviting her if I didn't want her to accept," Rob
+replied as he picked up his books and turned toward the door.
+
+"Oh, say, Lena!" he cried, "I just happened to think of Captain
+Atherton's party. Do you suppose Gwen is invited?"
+
+"Why, Rob! What a question! Captain Atherton wouldn't slight any child
+in this neighborhood. Of course Gwen will be invited," Lena said.
+
+"Then she'll be there," cried Rob. "She couldn't stay away."
+
+Lena was a little late in preparing for school, and as she ran down
+the walk, she saw Leslie Grafton just ahead of her, hurrying down the
+avenue.
+
+"Leslie!" she cried, and Leslie turned a laughing face toward her.
+
+"Come on!" she cried, "I can't wait. Catch up with me, Lena. I want
+to ask you something."
+
+Lena was swift footed, and soon they were running along together.
+
+They were just in time to avoid being late, and as they entered, Leslie
+whispered:
+
+"I'll ask the question at recess."
+
+It happened that at recess, everyone was ready to ask the same question.
+
+"Does anyone know what the 'festivities' are to be at Captain Atherton's
+party?"
+
+That was the question that each asked the other, but while all asked
+the question, no one could answer it, and Harry Grafton laughed as he
+said;
+
+"We'll have to wait 'til the evening of the party, and we might as
+well wait patiently."
+
+"Rose won't tell us," Lena said, reaching to give one of Rose's brown
+curls just a little "tweak."
+
+"At first when you asked me, I said I didn't know," said Rose, "but
+now I'll have to say that I know all of Uncle John's plans for the
+party, but I won't tell."
+
+"And Sprite knows something about it, for see! She's laughing now,"
+said Rob.
+
+"Like Rose I know, but won't tell," Sprite said.
+
+"I won't tease then," said Princess Polly, "because they ought not to
+tell, and I don't _really_ want them to. I'd like to know now, but I'd
+rather have it a surprise when the evening comes."
+
+"Polly is right, as usual," said Rob Lindsey, to which Harry Grafton
+replied in a teasing voice:
+
+"Does anyone believe that Rob would say that _anything_ that Polly
+does is _anything_ but right?"
+
+"Quit teasing," cried Rob, "or I'll return the favor."
+
+Harry at once became silent, and the others laughed, for it was well
+known that he admired Rose, and that he did not like to be teased.
+
+On the evening of the party the little guests arrived promptly.
+"Festivities to commence at eight," the invitations had said, and there
+was not a boy or girl who cared to miss any of the pleasures offered.
+
+Captain Atherton's new home was a blaze of light, and every room was
+decorated with a wealth of greenery, and glowing blossoms.
+
+Mimic butterflies hovered among the flowers, and soft music sounded
+through the halls. Silvery bells were vying with the triangle in
+producing tinkling tones that chimed in sweet accord with the melody
+that the strings were playing.
+
+At one end of the spacious parlor a tiny grove of palms and tall shrubs
+looked as if transplanted from out of doors.
+
+Captain Atherton, tall and handsome, greeted his little friends gaily,
+and when all had arrived, he led them toward the grove.
+
+"Wait here a moment," he said, "and see what happens. This is an
+enchanted grove, and a sweet enchantress is in hiding here.
+
+   "Come forth, oh lady fair,
+    Dear spirit of the air,
+    We long to see thy face,
+    Thy form of airy grace.
+    Some things we long to know
+    Thou well can'st tell, I trow."
+
+For a moment not a sound save the soft music was heard. Then,--a
+rustling as of silken draperies, or like wind among the leaves, and
+the branches parted, and Iris Vandmere, radiant, smiling, extended her
+pretty hands in greeting. Clad in softest silk gauze in lilac, and
+ivory white, she suggested the blossom for which she was named. Like
+a fair iris bloom she appeared, diamonds on her neck and in her hair
+representing dewdrops.
+
+   "Dearest friends, I heard you call,
+    I have come to greet you all.
+    I am now your fairy queen,
+    And, beneath these branches green,
+    I will grant, to each of you
+    That your dearest wish come true."
+
+"Oh-o-o-o!" came like a sigh of delight from the excited children as
+they gazed at the lovely figure.
+
+Each had a wish, and wisely she answered, for Iris was as quick witted
+as she was beautiful.
+
+"I wish I could make everyone happy," said Princess Polly.
+
+"Be as loving and kind as I am told you now are, and your wish will
+come true," said Queen Iris.
+
+"I'd like to do something _very_ nice for father and mother that would
+be a sweet surprise," said Sprite. "I _wish_ I knew what to do."
+
+"Your wish is granted," said Iris. She wrote a few words on a slip of
+pink paper.
+
+"Look at this to-morrow morning and you will know just what to do,"
+she said as she placed the tiny folded paper in Sprite's hand.
+
+In the same sweet manner Iris contrived to grant the wishes of all.
+
+Gwen held back.
+
+"Have you no wish?" Iris asked kindly, and Gwen hesitated, then she
+said;
+
+"_Yes_. I want to be admired _all_ the time and _everywhere_."
+
+Iris looked searchingly at the pretty, but pert face. Then she said;
+
+"Be kind, be good, be sweet, be true, and all the world shall smile
+on you."
+
+"Oh, I don't mean _that_ way!" said Gwen in disgust.
+
+"If you do as I tell you, you will be beautiful," said Iris.
+
+"Why, I'm beautiful _now_! My mamma says so!" cried Gwen. The children
+stared in amazement at the child who could make such a silly speech.
+
+For a second no one spoke. To relieve the situation, Captain Atherton
+spoke.
+
+"I think Queen Iris has granted your wishes most wisely. Now, let me
+present to you the little Goddess of Plenty."
+
+He drew aside a brocade hanging and disclosed a huge half blown rose.
+
+Its large petals commenced to open, and from its center sprang Rose
+Atherton, a "horn of plenty" in her hands, filled with bonbons. Laughing
+gaily, she lifted her hands filled with bonbons and tossed them into
+the center of the room.
+
+Many of them were caught, so that few fell to the floor. Wrapped in
+tinsel, they shone like stars as they caught the light, and the boys
+and girls vied with each other, laughing as they tried to see which
+would be lucky, and secure the largest number.
+
+When the gilded horn was empty, Rose ran to where a giant scallop shell
+was standing. It was formed of papier-mache, and decorated to look
+like the texture of a shell.
+
+"Guess what's in this!" she said, looking over her shoulder to laugh
+at them.
+
+"Oh, is it Sprite?" Princess Polly asked eagerly. "You were in the big
+rose. Is Sprite in the beautiful shell?"
+
+Rose lightly touched the top edge of the shell.
+
+It opened wide, and there, sure enough sat Sprite all clad in soft
+flesh pink gauze and coral, coral everywhere.
+
+Strings of coral beads held her golden hair in place, hung from her
+neck and arms, encircled her slender waist.
+
+She extended her arms, and then as the musicians played a little
+prelude, she commenced to sing.
+
+   "I've lovely gifts for my dearest friends
+    I've something for each of you,
+    I've coral beads for the girls so fair,
+    I've scarfpins, dear boys, for you.
+    And always we will remember this,
+    That a gift has a value true,
+    But better far, than the finest gift
+    Is the love that we give to you."
+
+"Oh, Sprite, dear Sprite!" they cried, as they thronged around her to
+accept the beautiful coral. The girls gaily clasped the necklaces, and
+quite as eagerly, the boys accepted the pretty scarf pins.
+
+"Now, we'll have some magic!" Captain Atherton said, "and let us all
+be seated here at this end of the parlor."
+
+Quickly they turned to do as he said, and to their surprise, they found
+that while Iris, and Rose, and Sprite had been entertaining them, the
+housekeeper had arranged the seats in rows, as if at a private theatre.
+
+They were soon seated, the musicians began to play some merry music,
+and then two slender nimble fellows, all silk tights, and spangles,
+ran in and began to balance great gilded balls on the tips of tiny
+wands.
+
+Then they spun plates on those same slender wands, they brought a huge
+globe, and walked upon it, rolling it, by treading it, quite across
+that end of the room. They did clever tricks that made the children
+laugh, and at last, they rolled themselves up like balls, and rolled
+right out of the room!
+
+The children cheered, and generously applauded, whereupon the two
+performers came back and repeated the last part of their act.
+
+The housekeeper now appeared, gowned in black silk, with a fine white
+muslin cap, and apron.
+
+"Will all these little friends, led by Captain Atherton, and Miss
+Vandmere, march out to the dining-room for refreshments?" she asked,
+and the eager little friends waited for no urging. A spread had been
+prepared especially suitable for a cold, wintry night, and how they
+did enjoy it!
+
+Hot chicken boullion, wee, hot chicken pies in the dearest little round
+nappies, ice cream in lovely shapes, and hot chocolate with whipped
+cream. Oh, but nothing could have been chosen that would have been so
+delicious for a treat to be enjoyed on a frosty evening!
+
+"Let us crack this huge nut," said Captain Atherton, and suiting the
+action to the word, he hit the big nut that lay upon a salver in the
+center of the table.
+
+With a "crack" like a toy pistol it opened, proving itself to be filled
+with nuts of the usual size.
+
+Then what fun they had trying to open their nuts! Some were chocolate
+nuts, with nut meats inside, while others were real nut shells filled
+with bonbons.
+
+After the good things had been enjoyed, they hastened back to the large
+drawing-room, where they danced to the merry music.
+
+It was an evening of fun and frolic, and when, in the midst of their
+fun, they noticed that bright, handsome Uncle John Atherton was dancing
+with Miss Iris Vandmere, they slyly formed a laughing ring around them
+and danced, and sang to their hearts' content.
+
+It had been a bright, merry evening, and when the boys and girls told
+Captain Atherton how he had delighted them, he said, heartily:
+
+"I have been very happy this evening, and if it is possible that you
+have been even _half_ as happy as I have been, I shall feel well repaid
+for having given this party."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lessons were rather neglected next morning, for who could enjoy such
+an evening of rare delight, and so soon forget to think of its many
+pleasures? More than once the teacher had to speak rather sharply
+because she realized that their minds were upon something that had
+nothing to do with their lessons.
+
+Many were the notes that were written, and exchanged, and when, at
+last, school was out, they walked along the avenue, their arms about
+each other's waists, and all the way they talked about the party of
+the night before.
+
+"Oh, Sprite! You did your part well!" said Harry Grafton.
+
+"And you looked just like a sea fairy!" said Lena Lindsey.
+
+"I mean always to keep my lovely necklace," said Princess Polly, "and
+let's every one of us keep the pretty coral gifts to help us to remember
+the fine party that we so enjoyed."
+
+"We'd never forget it," said Leslie, "but we'll all want to keep the
+dainty corals."
+
+"And wasn't Miss Vandmere beautiful when she came to grant our wishes?"
+Rose asked. "Already I love her."
+
+"_Already_?" Rob said, and his voice bespoke a question.
+
+"Why, yes," Rose said, "already."
+
+"That sounds odd, and queer," objected Gwen. "Why don't you tell us
+just what you mean?" but Rose chose not to reply.
+
+She only laughed and shook her head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A HOLIDAY PARTY
+
+
+Sprite could not wait to dress on the morning after the party. Softly
+she crept across the floor to the chair over which she had hung her
+frock.
+
+From the folds of its girdle she drew the tinted paper, and opening
+it she read: "Captain Atherton is to offer a prize to the boy or girl
+who has highest rank at Christmas time. Try for it, and I believe that
+you will obtain it. Will not that delight your dear father and mother?"
+
+"I _will_ try!" she whispered, "and oh, if it is possible, I'll get
+it, just to repay them for letting me have this lovely Winter. I wonder
+if it is to be a medal!"
+
+It was her first morning at the home of John Atherton, and as she
+looked around the pretty chamber, she knew that she could be very happy
+there.
+
+She had enjoyed her stay at Sherwood Hall.
+
+Now commenced another visit with dear Rose Atherton as her companion,
+and Sprite wondered why such great good fortune had been given her.
+
+Once she had been a dear little lass by the sea, with two loving
+parents, but no playmates. Now, she had Princess Polly, and Rose,
+beside ever so many little schoolmates, and she was being cared for
+by Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood, and Captain Atherton, who had asked her to
+call him, "Uncle John."
+
+"I'm having so much pleasure," she whispered, "that I want to send
+some down to the 'Mermaid's Cave.' I'll begin _to-day_ to work for the
+prize!"
+
+She seemed unusually quiet at breakfast, and Uncle John wondered if
+she were tired from the excitement of the night before, or if she were
+a bit homesick.
+
+Gently he questioned her, and she laughed so gaily that at once his
+fears were allayed.
+
+"I'm not tired, and not a bit homesick," she said, "but I've been
+thinking that I mustn't waste one single minute before Christmas. I
+mean to win that prize, and to do that I'll have to work very hard."
+
+"Why, Sprite!" cried Rose, "you've been working hard ever since school
+opened."
+
+"I have," she said quietly, "but I'll have to work harder still, and
+I'm willing to, if I have to work day and evening."
+
+"Oh, Uncle John!" cried Rose, "she won't have to do that. Her lessons
+are _almost_ perfect now. A little more study, and she will easily be
+at the head of the class."
+
+It was announced that day at school that Captain John Atherton had
+offered a prize for the best average, and Sprite gasped when the teacher
+said;
+
+"The prize is well worth working for. It is a large prize for any boy
+or girl to win. It is fifty dollars in gold! Now work for it! You will
+all gain by trying, for while but one can win the prize, every scholar
+who works for it, has higher scholarship, and has acquired more
+knowledge than if he had not entered the competition."
+
+The pupils were greatly interested, and it was evident that many
+intended to strive for the prize. Harry Grafton, on the way home from
+school, turned quickly to look at Rob as he asked;
+
+"What's Gwen Harcourt doing these days?"
+
+"I've no idea," Rob answered in a careless manner, and if he had spoken
+his thoughts, he would have said that he did not greatly care.
+
+"Well, she's not going to school, and what is queerer than that, she
+isn't coming over here to tell us all about it," Harry said.
+
+There were other matters of greater interest to be talked of, and the
+two boys soon forgot Gwen.
+
+Gwen Harcourt never allowed herself to be long forgotten, and one
+bright afternoon, she decided to run off by herself and have a little
+fun of the kind that she liked best.
+
+She stopped first at Aunt Judith's cottage.
+
+She could not have told why she chose first to call there. Aunt Judith
+and the little maid had gone down to the parsonage for a call, and
+Gwen knocked until she was tired, then paused on the step, trying to
+decide where next she would call.
+
+"Stupid that everyone is in school, and won't be out for an hour!" she
+said.
+
+Then her eyes brightened.
+
+"I know where I'll go!" she cried.
+
+She turned from the avenue into a pretty street, and ran along until
+she reached a house that set a little farther back than the others.
+
+"There's a lady who lives here who looks pleasant, and I've always
+meant to see the inside of her house," thought Gwen. "I can stay a
+little while there, and be just in time to meet the other girls when
+they come out of school."
+
+She rang the bell.
+
+No one came to the door. After waiting a few moments she rang again.
+
+Again she waited, listening for approaching footsteps. Then she stooped,
+and tried to peep through the keyhole. She turned, a crafty light in
+her eyes, and she nodded until her curls danced as she softly said;
+
+"What if the door isn't locked? And what if I should walk right in,
+and sit down? What would happen?"
+
+She looked elfish as she asked the questions, a smile parting her lips.
+
+Carefully she turned the knob and then, a gentle push opened the door,
+and on tiptoe, she entered, making her way along the hall to a room
+where the sunlight streamed across the floor.
+
+The hall had been dark, and coming suddenly upon the broad band of
+sunlight, Gwen was almost blinded, and for a few seconds, she did not
+see other objects in the room. A chair stood near the door, and she
+climbed upon it, squirming around, and sitting down as if it were
+exactly what she had come intending to do.
+
+She wondered why the house was so still.
+
+She also wondered where the pleasant faced lady was. She felt strangely
+nervous, and a bit afraid.
+
+She could not have told why she felt afraid to move, and so sat
+absolutely still. Her eyes roved from one object to another, first
+looking at the pictures on the wall, then the ornaments upon the mantel,
+then the lamp upon the table just before her, then,--
+
+Between the lamp, and a tall vase that stood near it, a pair of eyes
+were looking sharply at her.
+
+Gwen clutched the arms of her chair, caught her breath in terror, and
+then screamed.
+
+"Strange that I can't read without being interrupted by a child who
+knows no better than to poke her impudent little nose in here,
+uninvited!"
+
+The voice low and angry made her tremble with fear, and she slid from
+the chair, raced out through the hall, ran down the street, never once
+looked behind her.
+
+"I won't _ever_ go _anywhere_ again, unless somebody asks me to," she
+said to herself. Who that ever had known Gwen would believe that she
+could refrain from doing just the same thing, the first time that her
+curiosity prompted her? She had been frightened, and, for the moment,
+would have promised anything.
+
+The man, a studious, quiet man, with an unpleasant disposition, had
+been annoyed when Gwen had interrupted his reading.
+
+Knowing little of children, he had not dreamed that he would frighten
+her, and when she ran out, he simply turned another page, and continued
+reading.
+
+He had wished her to fully realize that she was an intruder, and when
+she turned and ran, he felt that she understood.
+
+The first person that she met was the private teacher who, for the
+past few weeks had been endeavoring to have at least a few hours each
+day devoted study.
+
+Gwen had refused to look at a lesson book in the forenoon, and when
+afternoon had arrived, she had left the house to escape instruction.
+
+"Miss Gwen, I've been looking everywhere for you, and your mamma is
+really quite nervous, because you've been gone so long. Where have you
+been?" the young woman asked.
+
+"I don't _have_ to tell you," Gwen replied rudely, "but I will because
+I want to. I made some calls, and the last one was funny, and queer
+too. I was frightened _some_, and I ran out of the house where a cross
+man just shouted at me!"
+
+"Was he a neighbor?" the teacher asked, looking curiously at Gwen.
+
+"Of course not," cried Gwen. "What fun would it be to call on neighbors?
+I'd rather go to houses where I _don't know_ the people, just for the
+sake of seeing what they look like, and how their houses look."
+
+The young teacher was not surprised. That very morning, soon after
+breakfast, upon returning to her room, she had found Gwen on her knees
+searching her trunk. Gwen had neither blushed, nor looked abashed.
+
+"I wanted to know how many dresses you brought with you," she had said
+coolly, "and I don't see but one in the closet, two in this trunk, and
+one you have on. Is that all you have?"
+
+Mrs. Harcourt passing the door, looked in to smile at Gwen.
+
+"You mustn't mind if my little daughter examines your belongings in
+your trunks or bureau drawers. She's only deeply interested in you,"
+she said.
+
+The young governess felt like saying that she did not enjoy the sort
+of interest that made a child feel free to handle and examine the
+property of others, but she said nothing.
+
+She knew that Mrs. Harcourt considered Gwen faultless.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Weeks had passed since the little pupils had commenced to strive to
+win the prize. Now there was great excitement. At the end of the
+afternoon session the name of the winner was to be announced, and in
+the evening the Holiday party at Sherwood Hall was to be enjoyed.
+
+Of all the boys and girls at school, Sprite Seaford was surely the
+most restless.
+
+At one time her cheeks would be hot, and soon after the color would
+leave them.
+
+She had worked very, _very_ hard to win the prize.
+
+Oh, whose was it to be?
+
+She clasped, and unclasped her nervous hands.
+
+And when at last the teacher went to the board just back of her desk
+and wrote:
+
+"Sprite Seaford, Prize winner," Sprite leaned back in her seat, pale,
+and almost breathless. For a moment not a sound broke the silence.
+
+Sprite stared at the written words as if half stunned with surprise.
+
+"Three cheers for Sprite Seaford!" shouted Rob Lindsey, forgetting
+that he was in school, and the teacher laughed outright.
+
+"Give them, every one of you," she cried, and they gave them with a
+will.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Evening had come, starlight, moonlight in the great garden at Sherwood
+Hall, and a blaze of light indoors, where little feet kept time to
+sweet music, and sweeter voices laughed and talked in merry mood.
+
+Princess Polly in white with silver spangles, a silver bandeau holding
+her powdered curls in place, looked like a little lady of the time of
+Watteau.
+
+Faces and forms were different in character, but the costumes were
+similar, because Mrs. Sherwood had asked both boys and girls to come
+clad in white, with powdered hair.
+
+It was a Holiday party, and the white costumes suggested the snowy
+season.
+
+The walls were hung with holly and mistletoe, and the wreaths and
+garlands were tied with scarlet ribbons, while portieres and hangings
+were of scarlet brocade.
+
+Rosy cheeks and red lips looked well with the powdered hair, and bright
+eyes twinkled beneath snowy bangs.
+
+A slender figure dressed in the gaudy colors of a court jester, skipped
+here and there between the dancers making comical jokes, while he
+tossed, and nimbly caught a bright colored ball.
+
+Still they danced to merry measures, and from behind a damask curtain
+came a slender girl in hues as bright as that of the jester.
+
+A basket of beautiful flowers hung from her arm, and these she offered
+to the little guests.
+
+The boys placed them in their buttonholes, and the girls tucked the
+roses and lilies in their girdles.
+
+Hark! A flourish of silvery trumpets announced the arrival of some
+great personage!
+
+Another long, sweet note, and there strode into the room a tall figure
+in crimson velvet and white fur, with snowy beard, and kindly face,
+across whose breast gold letters bespoke his name:
+
+"King Christmas."
+
+A great pack was on his back, which when opened, gave forth beautiful
+gifts for all.
+
+There were bangles for the girls, there were rings, or silver pencils
+for the boys, and a kindly word he spoke to each as he presented the
+gift.
+
+"Now here's a little purse of fifty gold dollars for the little lass
+who won it by faithful study, and the giver permits me to present it.
+Come, little lass, and take it, for now it belongs to you."
+
+Sprite ran to him, as he stood waiting.
+
+"Oh, I know you, King Christmas! You are good, kind Uncle John! I know
+your pleasant voice that I've learned to love so well!" she said.
+
+"Even as I love you, dear child," he cried, placing a strong arm around
+her slender little form, while with the other hand he tore off the
+beard that so disguised him.
+
+"I am King Christmas," he said, laughing gaily as he pointed proudly
+to the golden letters on his breast.
+
+"Also Baron Goodfellow!" said Mr. Sherwood. "That name fits you just
+as well."
+
+"Prince Give Give wouldn't be half bad," said Rob Lindsey, "for he's
+wild to give _somebody something_, all the time."
+
+"Everyone in this house to-night is dear," said Sprite.
+
+"Including you, Sprite Seaford," said Rose, and little Sprite felt
+that she had never been so happy.
+
+There were merry games, and then refreshments, and then more games in
+which the elders joined, and when "good nights" were said, the guests
+turned homeward with happy hearts.
+
+The moonlight shimmered on the snow, and glittered on the pendant
+icicles, and the keen, frosty air proved it to be true Holiday weather.
+
+Jingling sleigh bells, tooting auto horns, voices talking, and laughing
+at the same time told of a gay evening that all had enjoyed.
+
+They would dream of the party that night, and talk of it on the morrow.
+
+There was one thing that no one thought of until some time after the
+party, and it was Leslie who spoke of it, to Rose and Princess Polly.
+
+"Only think!" she said, "Mrs. Harcourt has had three different teachers
+for Gwen this Winter, because Gwen has acted so that the first and
+second left, and Gwen said yesterday that the one they have now is to
+leave next Monday."
+
+"Why _does_ she act so horrid?" said Rose.
+
+"I'll tell you one nice thing about Gwen," said Princess Polly, "and
+that is that she didn't do one single thing at my party that wasn't
+nice."
+
+"Why, truly she didn't!" cried Rose and Sprite together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+UNCLE JOHN MAKES A PROMISE
+
+
+Rain or shine, every Wednesday and Saturday evening found Gyp at the
+table in the sitting-room at Aunt Judith's cottage, bending over his
+books.
+
+Aunt Judith, busy with a bit of needlework, looked often at the boy
+as he bent eagerly over his book, and marvelled that this was the same
+boy who less than a year ago was a trial to every owner of a garden
+or orchard.
+
+A puzzled frown puckered his forehead one evening as he worked.
+
+"What is it?" she asked. "Can I help you?"
+
+"Maybe I'll _have_ to let you, but I _think_ I can do it. I'd like to
+work it out if I can, and I'll try _hard_ before I give up."
+
+For a time he worked in silence, covering his slate with figures.
+
+The clock ticked loudly on the mantel, and seemed to be trying to outdo
+Gyp's busy pencil.
+
+"Scratch! Scratch!" went the pencil, and "Tick! Tick!" chirped the
+little clock, and then the boy looked up, his eyes bright with
+excitement.
+
+"I've done it, Mrs. Aunt Judith!" he cried, "I've done it, and it's
+right! You said it was better for me to do everything that I _could_
+do, by studying and working, instead of being helped."
+
+"It is better, because you will fully understand what you have done,
+and you will be more likely to remember it.
+
+"But tell me," she said, laying her hand on his shoulder, "why do you
+call me _Mrs._ Aunt Judith?"
+
+He looked frankly up into her face as he answered.
+
+"You aren't my Aunt Judith, tho' I wish you were, so I think I ought
+to call you something beside the name, so I say _Mrs._ with it."
+
+"Dear boy, you meant to be respectful," she said, "but you are such
+a good, hard working boy now that you shall call me 'Aunt Judith' just
+as the other children do."
+
+He hesitated, and she understood.
+
+"They shall not wonder why you do. I'll tell them that I asked you
+to," she said.
+
+Without a word he picked up his books, took his old cap, and crossed
+the room.
+
+Wondering that he did not speak she followed him.
+
+At the door he turned, and looking up at her with eyes in which tears
+glistened he said:
+
+"I'm going to work with all my might, and I mean to be a decent man,
+and _then_ I'll do something for you,--Aunt Judith."
+
+"Gyp, come back and let me thank you!" she cried when, after her
+surprise, she caught her breath, but a fit of his old shyness had come
+over him, and having said what was in his heart, he had at once raced
+off across the fields, and soon was out of sight or hearing in the
+dark woods.
+
+Aunt Judith told Captain Atherton all about Gyp's ambition, of his
+hard work at school, and the evenings spent at the cottage.
+
+"He is determined to get on, and he says that he will not always live
+like a gypsy.
+
+"He declares that he will be a decent man," she said, "but will not
+people be so prejudiced that they will not care to employ him?" she
+asked.
+
+"_No_!" cried the captain, "for I will set aside any notions that they
+may have by employing him _myself_.
+
+"_I_ will trust him, and this very week I'll tell him so!"
+
+It happened that he met the boy on his way from school.
+
+"How go the lessons, boy?" he asked kindly.
+
+For some reason Gyp was not afraid.
+
+"This is Friday, and I've had every lesson perfect this week. I'm going
+over to tell Aunt Judith. _She'll_ be glad!"
+
+"Don't you tell the folks at home?" queried Captain Atherton.
+
+"They don't care much," Gyp said with downcast eyes. Then, as if to
+excuse their lack of interest, he said:
+
+"I guess they don't understand why I'm _bound_ to study."
+
+"_I_ understand, my boy, just why you are working so hard, and I'm
+proud of you! Come, and tell _me_ about the weeks like this, when
+things go smoothly, and come just as quickly if things, instead, go
+roughly. Let me help you over the hard places, Gyp, for when you are
+out of school _I'll_ employ you. Now, work hard at school, knowing
+that when you have completed the course you're to be employed by _me_."
+
+"Oh, sir, I'll work for you with all my strength," cried the grateful
+boy. "You _believe_ in me, you _trust_ me, and I'll be _true_!"
+
+"I know you will, Gyp," said Captain Atherton, almost as greatly moved
+as Gyp himself.
+
+When he reached the cottage, he was almost breathless, so swiftly had
+he run.
+
+He dropped upon a chair near the door, and told first of the week's
+work at school, and then of the promise that Captain Atherton had made.
+
+Neither Aunt Judith nor the genial captain knew how close was the tie
+that bound Gyp to be faithful to them. They had befriended him, and
+for that he was grateful. They believed in him, and that gave him
+courage to make persistent effort, but deep in his heart lay the memory
+of the first kind, caressing words that had ever been said to him.
+
+"She sometimes says 'Dear boy' to me, and _he_ said, 'My boy,'" he
+would often whisper to himself.
+
+Gyp was now very happy. He was doing good work at school, he had won
+the respect of teacher and pupils.
+
+Now Aunt Judith was interested in him, Captain Atherton believed in
+him, and oh, pleasant promise, the kindly captain would prove his faith
+by employing him!
+
+"Folks in Avondale will have to think I'm something more decent than
+a gypsy!" he said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The days were growing longer, the warm sun had chased away the last
+bit of ice, and now the fields were green, and the trees and shrubs
+were showing fine foliage.
+
+In the gardens the early blossoms made soft color that told how soon
+the summer would appear.
+
+Princess Polly sat waiting for Rose, and Sprite.
+
+The soft breeze stirred the leaves, making them rustle as if they were
+whispering to each other the great news that summer would soon reach
+Avondale.
+
+Polly turned to look toward the avenue. They were not in sight.
+
+"I might walk over to call for them," she thought.
+
+Then she remembered that she had promised to wait at a spot where they
+had often met, and from which they were now to set out for a walk.
+
+"Why don't they come?" she said aloud.
+
+A long time she sat waiting for her playmates to appear. At last a
+shout made her turn.
+
+"Did you think we were never coming?" cried Rose.
+
+"Oh, she must have thought just that," said Sprite, "so tell her what
+it was that kept us."
+
+"Polly has been waiting so long, we'll start for our walk, and I'll
+tell the news as we go along," said Rose.
+
+"Then let's hurry," said Polly, "because I'm wild to know what it was."
+
+The three little friends tramped along the path that was always their
+favorite for a walk, and when they had reached a spot where a brook
+was spanned by a tiny bridge, they sat down to rest. It was then that
+Rose turned toward Polly.
+
+"I'm not going to ask you to guess who was at our house, or why I could
+not meet you at two, as I promised, because you never could guess that,
+so I'll tell you. It was,--Great Aunt Rose!"
+
+"Oh, Rose, why _did_ she come?" Polly gasped. "_Not_ to take you back
+with her!"
+
+"That's just what I said, when I heard that she was in the parlor,"
+said Sprite.
+
+"Well, when I saw her carriage coming up the avenue," Rose said, "the
+shivers went up and down my back, but Uncle John, when he got up to
+go in to see her, stooped and whispered in my ear: 'Don't be frightened,
+little girl, for remember that you now belong to me, and I shall not
+easily give you up. Now, come in with me, dear. You know I can not
+refuse to let her see you.'
+
+"So he took my hand, and we went in together.
+
+"Great Aunt Rose sat stiff and prim in the center of the sofa.
+
+"'How do you do, Aunt Rose?' I said, but she kept looking at me without
+speaking.
+
+"'Doesn't Rose look as if the air at Avondale had done her a world of
+good?' Uncle John asked.
+
+"'Really, John, I'm not sure,' Aunt Rose said, looking at me through
+her glasses, just as if I were a queer bug, or butterfly such as she'd
+never seen before. Uncle John looked vexed.
+
+"'You certainly see that her cheeks are rosy, and she is rounder than
+when she first came to me,' he said.
+
+"That's what I was thinking of,' she said, 'and when she was at our
+home, she was more delicate in her appearance. More slender, and pale,
+as an Atherton should be.
+
+"'No "Rose Atherton" ever was what country people call "buxom"! I'm
+_not_ countrified!' I said, half expecting to be scolded, but Uncle
+John put his arm around me, and drew me closer as he said:
+
+"'Indeed you are not, unless fresh color, and dimples, mean countrified,
+when I should think the term a compliment.' Then he turned to Great
+Aunt Rose.
+
+"'I have endeavored, ever since I have had little Rose under my care,
+to keep her much in the open air, and she has gained strength from
+sunshine and breeze,' he said.
+
+"'I knew it! I knew it!' she said, springing from the sofa, and looking
+dreadfully excited, 'and that is the reason for my call. You'll have
+her tanned with the sun, and her complexion ruined by the wind, and
+she'll look like anything but an Atherton by the time she's a young
+lady!
+
+"'You must let her return to the old Atherton house with me, and in
+its quiet, refining influence she will regain the delicate appearance
+that was so charming.
+
+"'Rose, will you come with me?'
+
+"She put out her hand as if she meant to take me, whether I wanted to
+go with her or not, and for the moment I forgot that Uncle John was
+big enough, and brave enough, to keep me with him.
+
+"I screamed, and ran from the room, and oh, I know it was rude, and
+I'm afraid unkind, but I didn't stop to think, and just kept on running
+until I found Sprite waiting for me at the gate."
+
+"And she clasped my hand," said Sprite, continuing the story, "and she
+never told me a word of all this, but, instead, she said: 'Come quick!
+Oh, come quick!' and together we raced along until we met you, Polly.
+
+"Wasn't it funny? Rose knew why we were running, but I didn't. I ran
+because she told me to, and I had to, to keep up with her!"
+
+Princess Polly looked thoughtful. "You don't really believe she could
+make you live with her again, do you?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, Rose, you haven't but just begun to live at Avondale!"
+
+"Uncle John said she'd not easily get me away from him," Rose said,
+"and it may be that I needn't have been so frightened, but I feel
+better out here, and I'll stay out until I know that she must have
+gone home. Come! We won't let it spoil our fun. We'll have a fine long
+walk, and when I get back, Great Aunt Rose will have surely gone."
+
+One part of the road over which they walked was bordered on either
+side by white birches. Yet a bit farther willows took the place of
+birches, and there they left the road to cross the meadows, coming out
+into the bright sunlight.
+
+The three little playmates had walked rapidly, and now began to slacken
+their pace, and when they reached a clump of trees, they sat down to
+enjoy the cool shade, and to talk for a while.
+
+"You'll be happier, Rose, if we talk of something else," said Polly,
+"so I'll tell you that Sir Mortimer is strutting around our garden
+this morning with a new collar that I bought for him, and the big pink
+satin bow upon it is very becoming."
+
+"And _I'll_ tell a bit of news. I sent my prize right straight to the
+'Mermaid's Cave,'" said Sprite, "and pa put it in the Cliffmore bank
+for me."
+
+"Why, Sprite Seaford!" cried Rose. "How did you dare to send fifty
+dollars in gold?"
+
+"Because," said Sprite, "I didn't send it by mail. I gave it to one
+of the very best men in this world, and that is Uncle John, to take
+it to pa for me, and he did. He rode over to Cliffmore last Saturday.
+That's a week ago, and don't you know it was a stormy day? Well, that's
+why we didn't go with him."
+
+Sprite nodded her head wisely as she spoke, and the sunbeams danced
+on her rippling hair.
+
+"And I'll tell you something I've thought of," she said. "It was Friday
+after school that I asked him about sending it, and he said we'd all
+take the trip to Cliffmore. And when Saturday came it was so stormy
+we couldn't go. I didn't say a thing, but I must have looked
+disappointed, for he said: 'Cheer up, little Sprite, for your prize
+shall reach Cliffmore to-day. I'm going over there, and I'll take it
+with me.'
+
+"_Now_ I believe he wouldn't have gone so far on such a day for himself.
+I think he went for me."
+
+"It would be just like Uncle John to do that," Rose said. "He's always
+doing something to make people happy."
+
+As if to prove that his little niece spoke truly, he now appeared on
+the road in his big motor car, laughing when he espied the three
+playmates, and gaily calling:
+
+"Has anyone seen a small girl straying around this part of Avondale?
+Girl with brown curls, and rosy cheeks, answers to the name of Rose?"
+
+"You needn't laugh, Uncle John, for truly I was afraid Great Aunt Rose
+would try to make you say that I must spend, at least, a part of my
+time with her, and oh, I didn't want to."
+
+"Do I look as if anyone could _make_ me give up what I considered
+mine?"
+
+"No, _no_!" they cried in chorus.
+
+"Then climb into my car, you three little tramps, and I'll take you
+for a ride."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+AUNT ROSE'S CALL
+
+
+A week's vacation!
+
+All of the pupils were delighted, but Princess Polly was especially
+happy, because with Rose, and Sprite, the week would be a week of
+pleasure, no lessons, and all play.
+
+"What shall we do on Monday?" she asked, as they skipped along the
+sidewalk.
+
+It was Monday morning, and she did not wish to have a moment wasted.
+
+"Come over to my house, and we'll sit in the big hammock and talk, and
+perhaps something will happen that will just tell us what to do."
+
+The gay-colored hammock had been hung on the sunny side of the house,
+and the three little friends sat swinging and talking, and soon they
+had planned enough doings to occupy a month, instead of a week.
+
+They were talking of Lena, and Leslie, when Sprite asked:
+
+"When have you seen Gwen Harcourt?"
+
+"They haven't seen me for ever so long!" cried an answering voice, and
+Gwen appeared around the corner, laughing saucily, because she had
+been listening, and had heard Sprite's question.
+
+Of course she had some very large stories to tell regarding the private
+school that she was attending, and her classmates there.
+
+"I wouldn't care to go to any other school," she said, "and I love to
+take the train every morning. I'd stay at home some days if I was near
+school and walked, but I like to ride on the trains so I never miss
+a day.
+
+"Guess what I did just now," she said, laughing as if to imply that
+what she had done was an absolutely clever joke.
+
+"What did you do?" Polly asked, not because she really cared, but
+rather from curiosity as to what especially abominable thing it had
+pleased Gwen to do.
+
+Gwen never waited to be urged.
+
+Seating herself on the piazza, railing, she swung her legs as she
+recounted the morning's happenings, making the list as long as possible.
+
+"Just before I came over here I went into the room upstairs that mamma
+calls the 'Picture Gallery,' and I looked around for a while just to
+see which I liked the best.
+
+"It seemed to me that the one that was on the first line, was looking
+right at me, and I _almost_ thought the pink feathers on her hat bobbed
+just a little.
+
+"The longer I looked at her the more it seemed to me that she really
+was looking at me, and _once_ I thought she smiled. I had a lovely new
+knife that my cousin Jack had given me. I went close to the picture,
+and more than ever it seemed as if she smiled at me, and I thought if
+I had her out of the frame she'd be lovelier than any doll I own.
+
+"It didn't take me more than ten minutes to whip out my little knife,
+and cut her right out from the background, but say! After I'd cut her
+out, she didn't look nearly as pretty as I had thought she would. Just
+look at her!
+
+"The paint looks real dauby when you get close up to her."
+
+"Why, Gwen Harcourt!" cried Princess Polly; "you truly did cut her
+from the picture!"
+
+"Of course I did. Did you really s'pose I'd tell you I did if I didn't?"
+
+"You might have been joking when you said it," said Polly.
+
+"Well, I wasn't joking," Gwen replied, "and now I don't know where to
+put this, now I have it."
+
+"What did you mean to do, when you first thought of cutting the picture
+out?" questioned Rose.
+
+"Oh, I thought I'd keep her in the dolls' house, but she looks bigger
+in my hand than she did in the frame. I don't believe she'd go into
+the doll's house, and I don't b'lieve I want her to, for really I don't
+care for her. Do either of you want her?"
+
+She extended her arm, holding the picture at arm's length, while she
+looked from one to the other.
+
+"We don't want her," said Polly, "and oh, _this_ time, Gwen, your mamma
+will surely be angry!"
+
+"Pooh! See 'f she is. I guess I'll run home and see what she says,"
+chirped Gwen, and gaily humming, she ran down the walk, and hurried
+home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Harcourt had been entertaining guests for a few days, and it
+happened that soon after Gwen had left the house, the mischief had
+been discovered.
+
+"Oh, can it be possible that there have been thieves prowling about
+the house in the night?" cried Mrs. Harcourt. "It really makes me feel
+quite ill to think of it."
+
+At that moment, Gwen came flying into the house, and up the stairway.
+
+"Somebody take this old picture and stick it back in the hole it came
+from. I thought it would make a nice big doll, but I guess I don't
+want her!"
+
+"Oh, what a naughty thing for a child to do!" cried one of the ladies.
+"That fine picture is absolutely ruined."
+
+"_Naughty_!" cried Mrs. Harcourt, "no, indeed! As you say, the picture
+is ruined, but Gwen has proved her love for Art, and her artistic
+nature. She felt so attracted to the picture that she was actually
+obliged to take it with her when she went out. She surely loves Art.
+As I have always said: 'Gwen is a most _unusual_ child. She shows great
+force of character, and I can overlook the _mistake_ she made in cutting
+the canvas, because the act showed me another fine trait,--the love
+of Art. I _do_ wonder if she will be an artist?"
+
+The guests were disgusted. They wondered how any mother could be so
+foolish as to think a piece of costly mischief showed either love of
+art or talent, instead of wilful wrong-doing.
+
+"Gwen is a pretty child," said one woman, "and some one who had sense
+enough to correct her and make her behave, could train her to be a
+pleasing young girl, when she is a few years older, but her mother
+could never do that!"
+
+"No, indeed," the other replied. "Mrs. Harcourt is spoiling her little
+daughter as fast as she can. I had promised to stay a week," she
+continued, "but I think I will make some excuse and leave here day
+after to-morrow. I am very fond of Mrs. Harcourt, but the child is so
+unpleasant that I can not remain."
+
+The two friends were in the room that they had shared during their
+visit. In another room Mrs. Harcourt was changing Gwen's frock, and
+ribbons, to make her yet more attractive when she should appear at
+lunch. A less beautiful costume, and a bit of training in ordinary
+rules of courtesy, would have been far more beneficial. Mrs. Harcourt
+felt that Gwen must, at all times, be daintily dressed, but she
+permitted her to do or say whatever she chose, and at times when she
+was hopelessly rude, the silly mother thought her charming.
+
+In the big hammock the three playmates still were swinging.
+
+"Come!" said Polly, "let's walk around the garden, and when we come
+to the terrace, we'll sit down, and listen to the story that Rose
+promised to tell."
+
+"No, the story that Sprite was to tell!" cried Rose.
+
+"No, the story that Princess Polly found in the red book yesterday,"
+Sprite said, laughing because the others did.
+
+"We'll run a race!" cried Polly, "and the one that gets there last
+will be the one to tell the story."
+
+The others agreed, and Polly counted:
+
+"One! Two! _Three_!"
+
+They were off like the wind, past the fountain, the gates, the big
+clump of rose bushes, and it happened that Rose and Sprite were the
+first to reach the terrace.
+
+"All right!" cried Princess Polly, "I'll tell the story of the 'Big,
+Brave Knight.'"
+
+"Does it begin with: 'Once upon a time'?" Sprite asked, eagerly.
+
+"Oh, yes," Polly said. "Once upon a time there lived a knight who was
+big, and brave, and he loved a princess who was so beautiful that it
+was like looking at the sun to look at her face, because her beauty
+was so dazzling.
+
+"She wasn't very happy, for who'd be happy when an old witch had
+enchanted her?"
+
+"Oh, oo!" purred little Sprite, "I love a story that tells about folks
+that are enchanted."
+
+"So do I," agreed Rose. "Now go on, Polly. How was she enchanted?"
+
+"Oh, I wish I had the book right here, so I could read every word of
+it to you, but I let Leslie Grafton take it home to read, so I'll tell
+it as well as I can.
+
+"Where did I stop? Oh, I know. I'd just told you that the lovely
+princess was enchanted. Lora was her name, and she lived in a fine
+castle way up on a great, high mountain. The picture showed the castle,
+and it looked as if the side of the mountain was all ledges.
+
+"On sunny days, she wandered around the castle gardens, picking the
+flowers, or feeding her pets, and when storm clouds hung over the
+mountain, she strolled through the great halls, playing her guitar,
+and sweetly singing.
+
+"Often she leaned on the wall that bordered the gardens, and for hours
+she would gaze at the far distant plains.
+
+"'Across those plains will come the prince who will set you free,' the
+old witch had said, and then she had laughed, and under her breath had
+muttered: 'That is, if he has the bravery to ride his charger up this
+steep mountain side.'"
+
+"Did a prince come?" questioned Sprite.
+
+"And was he fine, and brave?" Rose asked.
+
+Princess Polly laughed at their eager questions.
+
+"The book says:
+
+"'Many princes came, but when they saw the ledge going straight up to
+the castle, they turned back, saying:
+
+"'"No man could keep in the saddle, and no horse could climb such a
+huge crag as that. Both would fall and be dashed to pieces."'
+
+"One day, when the sun was bright and the air was very clear, the
+princess became restless, and tired of roaming through hall, and garden,
+and she ran to the wall, once more to look off across the plain.
+
+"A long time she stood watching, when, far, far over where the sky and
+land seemed to meet, she saw something flashing in the sunlight.
+
+"At first it appeared to stand still, but after a little while, she
+saw that it was coming nearer.
+
+"Brighter and brighter flashed the spot that she had been watching,
+and a moment later, she saw that it was a spear held aloft, in the
+hand of a man in armor.
+
+"On, on he came, and soon she saw that his armor was of silver, and
+that the plumes on his helmet were white.
+
+"Nearer and nearer he rode, and now, as he reached the foot of the
+cliff, the Princess Lora saw that he was handsome, for his visor was
+up, and even from that height she could see that his eyes were dark,
+and fine. He had seen her portrait that a great artist had painted,
+and he had vowed that he would win her.
+
+"Bravely he urged his white steed up the side of the cliff, and the
+charger, placing his hoofs in the crevices, climbed steadily higher
+until, at last, the brave knight stood at the castle gate, blowing his
+bugle to demand admittance.
+
+"At the sound of the bugle, the iron gates flew open, he rode boldly
+into the courtyard, and up to the door. He had shown himself to be so
+brave that no one dared oppose him, and after staying a month at the
+castle, he rode away, carrying the lovely Princess Lora as his bride,
+and they lived happy ever after."
+
+"There!" cried Polly, "I've told that almost word for word."
+
+"That was a lovely story," said Rose, "and I always like them when
+they commence, 'Once upon a time,' and end with, 'They lived happy
+ever after.'"
+
+"So do I," said Sprite, "and just think of the lovely times we'll have
+this Summer, when we're _all_ at the Cliffs, at Cliffmore, that is,
+if you're coming down to the shore. Oh, _are_ you?"
+
+"Uncle John says we'll enjoy the earlier part of the Summer here, and
+then go over to his lovely house at Cliffmore for the rest of the
+Summer."
+
+"Why, that's just what my papa said, last evening," said Princess
+Polly, "and I do believe they've planned it together."
+
+"I'll go home just as soon as school closes," said Sprite, "and I'll
+be company for ma, I'll gather lovely shells for you to keep, I'll
+read to pa evenings, but most of all, I'll be watching the long white
+road that leads from the pier.
+
+"Oh, let's play this hammock is the boat to Cliff more!" she cried,
+"and we'll call the different landings."
+
+"All right!" cried Rose, "and do you hear that funny creak?" she asked.
+"Well, that is the steamer just starting off."
+
+They swung a while, and then Sprite shouted the name of the first
+stopping-place.
+
+"Seaman's Port!" she cried. "This is where they always roll off lots
+of barrels."
+
+"What's in them?" Polly asked.
+
+"Oh, salt pork, and vegetables, and, oh, all sorts of things that they
+can't buy on the island."
+
+"Seafarm Ledge!" she next shouted.
+
+"All of us get out here!" cried Sprite, "because this is the place
+where the gentlemen sit around and do nothing, while the ladies dress
+up, and walk, and walk, and walk up and down the board walk."
+
+There must have been a very rough sea, for the hammock rolled and
+pitched, until it seemed as if the little voyagers would surely be
+thrown overboard, so violently did the steamer lurch.
+
+The passengers were evidently but little frightened. In truth, they
+appeared to think the trip a huge joke, for they laughed gaily; at
+last Sprite cried:
+
+"Cliffmore! Cliffmore! Every one get out, because this steamer goes
+no farther!"
+
+"Is that true, Sprite, that the steamer _Queen of the Ocean_ stops at
+Cliffmore, and then turns and goes back?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Sprite. "Some of the boats go farther, but that vessel
+never does."
+
+"Well, we had a fine trip in our hammock-steamer," said Princess Polly,
+"and if our vessel did pitch pretty badly, what did we care, while the
+sky was blue and cloudless overhead?"
+
+"It has been bright and sunny here at Avondale," said Sprite, "and
+I've had a lovely time, and I only long to go home, just because it
+_is_ home."
+
+"But soon after you go back to Cliffmore, Rose and I will come, and
+then we three will play together, and play all day, because it will
+be vacation, no lessons, and no school."
+
+"Mamma is sure that this Summer at Cliffmore is to be delightful,"
+said Polly.
+
+"And Uncle John says that there will be lots of good times, but that
+he knows of one happening that will be a surprise for everyone!" said
+Rose.
+
+Those who would like to meet Princess Polly again at Avondale, with
+her dearest friend Rose Atherton, to be with them again at Cliffmore,
+where they are constantly with little Sprite, may enjoy all their
+"good-times" in--
+
+"Princess Polly at Play."
+
+
+                                    END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Princess Polly's Gay Winter, by Amy Brooks
+
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