xt7t1g0htx4v https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7t1g0htx4v/data/mets.xml Johnston, Annie F. (Annie Fellows), 1863-1931. 1906  books b92-247-31689433 English L.C. Page, : Boston : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Mildred's inheritance  : Just her way ; Ann's own way / by Annie Fellows Johnston ; illustrated by Diantha W. Horne. text Mildred's inheritance  : Just her way ; Ann's own way / by Annie Fellows Johnston ; illustrated by Diantha W. Horne. 1906 2002 true xt7t1g0htx4v section xt7t1g0htx4v 



















ANNIE FELLOWS
 JOHNSTONe
COSEY- CORNER  SERIES

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MILDRED'S INHERITANCE

    JUST HER WAY

    ANN'S OWN WAY

 




                 Works of
   Annie Fellows Johnston
        The Little Colonel Series
                (Trade Mark)
The Little Colonel.    .      . .50
  The Same. Holiday Edition   .         1.25
The Giant Scissors.     .     ..50
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The Little Colonel Stories.  .   .    .   1.50
  (Containing in one volume the three stories, "The
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The Little Colonel's House Party  .    .  1.50
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The Little Colonel in Arizona.  .    .   1.50
The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation  .  1.50
               Other Books
Joel: A Boy of Galilee               .   1.50
Big Brother   .                          .50
Ole Mammy's Torment                      .50
The Story of Dago                        .50
Cicely.      .     .       ..50
Aunt 'Liza's Hero.     .    .     .      .50
The 9uilt that Jack Built.  .   -    .   .50
Flip's 'Islands of Providence". .    .   .50
Mildred's Inheritance.  .    .  .    ..50
In the Desert of Waiting                 .50
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Keeping Tryst ..50
Asa Holmes .1.00
Songs Ysame (Poems, with Albion Fellows
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"THREE PRETTY COLIE(GE GIRlIS LEANLD OVER TIHE
         RAILING OF THE UPPER DECK "(See ,Szge )



I

 


(toop Cornmr Zerit



  MILDRED'S

INHERITANCE

  JUST HER WAY

  ANN'S OWN WAY



              By
  Annie Fellows Johnston
Author of " The Little Colonel " Series, " Big Brother,"
T1 The Story of D)ago," "1 Joel: A Boy of Galilee," etc.



IIIis/r a te d by
Diantha W. Horne



             I'
    ;:



Boston -, -4 -& .a 6t
L. C. Page & Coavpany
.A 4h' e . -   19o6



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                 Copyright, z899
BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARI) OF
   PUBLICATION AND SABBATH - SCHOOL WORK

                  Copyright, 19o6
           BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
                  (INCORPORATED)

                  All rights reserved









            First Impression, May, 1906












               COLONIAL PRESS
    Electrotyped and Printed by C. Hf. Simond& 6d Co.
                    Boston, U.S.A.

 



































                                        PAGE  
MILDRED'S INHERITANCE         .            I

JUST HER \VAY                            27

ANN'S OWN WVAY                           55

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                                        PAG3
" T HREE PRETTY COLLEGE GIRLS LEANED OVER
   THE RAILING OF THE UP'PER DECK" (See
   fare i)                       Fronl/Apiece
" BEFORE THE DAY WAS OVER THE TWO WERE
   TALKING TOGETHER LIKE OLD) FRIENDS "  5
" SAT D)OWN ON THE BATTERED) LITTLE BOX TO
   WAIT "    .                           I I
" SHE READ THAT POOR MUFFIT HAI) OVER-
   TAXED HER EYES"                       21
" THE PASSING OF THE VILLAGE OMNIBUS WAS
   AN EXCITING EVENT                    29
" SHE AN)D MISS BARBARA PORED OVER A MAP
   OF WASHINGTON"                       42
" ' I WISH DAISY AVERY COULD SEE HER NOW,'
   SHE MUTTERED, SAVAGELY"              47
"SAT PERCHED AMONG ITS GUARDED BRANCHES"  56
"IT WAS THE BOX THAT HELD THE GREEN KID
   SHOES"                               63
"ANN FOLLOWED GINGERLY IN THEIR WAKE"   6)

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MILDRED'S INHERITANCE

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MILDRED'S INHERITANCE


  As the good ship JJ3ajqstic went steamin-
away from the Irish coast, one sunny Septem-
ber morning, three pretty college girls leaned
over the railing of the upper deck, watching the
steerage passengers below. With faces turned
to the shore which they might never see again,
the lusty-throated emigrants were sending their
song of "d Farewell to Erin " floating mournfully
back across the water.
  ",Oh, look at that poor old grandmother!"
exclaimed one of the girls. "There; that one
sitting on a coil of rope with a shawl over her
gray head. The pitiful way she looks back to
land would make me homesick, too, if I were
not already on my way home, with all my family
on board, and all the fun of the sophomore year
ahead of me. Let's go down to the other end
of the deck, where it is more cheerful."
  They moved away in friendly, schoolgirl fash-

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



ion, arm in arm, intent only on finding as much
enjoyment as possible in every moment of this
ocean voyage. A young English girl, dressed
in deep mourning, who had been standing near
them, followed them with a wistful glance; then
she turned to look over the railing again at the
old woman on the coil of rope.
  " I wish that I could change places with her,"
thought the girl. "d She is so old that she cannot
have many homesick years in st3re, while I -
left alone in the world at seventeen, and maybe
never to see dear old England again-" The
thought brought such an overwhelming sense of
desolation that she could not control her tears.
Drawing her heavy black veil over her face, she
hurriedly made her way to her deck-chair, and
sank down to sob unseen, under cover of its pro-
tecting rugs and cushions.
  This was the first time that Mildred Stan-
hope had ever been outside of the village where
she was born. The only child of an English
clergyman, the walls of the rectory garden had
been the boundary of her little world. She could
not remember her mother, but with her father
for teacher, playmate, and constant companion,
her life had been complete in its happiness.



2

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



  If the violets blooming within the protecting
walls of the old rectory garden had suddenly
been torn up by the roots and thrown into the
street, the change in their surroundings could
have been no greater than that which came to
Mildred in the first shock of her father's death.
She had been like one in a confused dream ever
since. Some one had answered the letter from
her mother's brother in America, offering her a
home. Some one had engaged her passage,
and an old friend of her father's had taken her
to Liverpool and put her on board the steamer.
Here she sat for the first three days, staring
out at the sea, with eyes which saw nothing of
its changing beauty, but always only a daisy-
covered mound in a little churchyard. All the
happiness and hope that her life had, ended in
that.
  "Who is the pretty little English girl "
people asked when they passed her. " She
doesn't seem to have an acquaintance on
board."
  Ad I never saw such a sad, hopeless face! " ex-
claimed one of the college girls whom the others
called " Muffit." " If she were an American
girl I'd ask her to walk with us. But English



3

 

MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



girls are so reserved and shy, and I am afraid it
would frighten her."
  If Muffit could have known, that cold, re-
served manner hid a heart hungry for one
friendly word. It was the third day out before
any one spoke to her. She had been warned
against making the acquaintance of strangers,
but one look at the gentle-voiced, white-haired
lady who took the chair next her own, disarmed
every suspicion. The lady was dressed in deep
mourning, like herself, and she had a sweet,
motherly face that drew Mildred irresistibly to
her. Before the day was over the two were
talking together like old friends. When she
saw how the girl grieved for her father, she tried
to draw her away from her sorrow by question-
ing her about her future.
  Mildred answered with a shiver. " Oh, I try
not to think about that at all. I have never
seen Uncle Joe or any of his family, and every-
thing must be so strange and queer in America.
Now, if they lived in India I would not dread
going half so much; for there would be some-
thing homelike in feeling that I was still under
the protection of our queen. I cannot bear to
think of leaving the ship, for it will be like leav-



4

 





















































/



" BEFORE THE DAY WAS OVER THE TWO WERE TALK-
       ING TOGETHER LIKE OLD FRIENDS."

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MILDRED' S INHERITANCE



7



ing the last bit of home, to step from under the
dear old Union Jack. ' A stranger in a strange
land,' " she added, her lips quivering.
  "No, dear, not as strange as you think,"
added the lady, with a motherly hand-clasp.
"Don't you know that one corner of our coun-
try is called New England, in loving remem-
brance of the old; that your blood flows in our
veins regardless of dividing seas, and gives us
the same heritage of that proud past which you
hold dear  Don't you know that thousands of
us go back every year, like children of the old
homestead, drawn by all those countless threads
of song and story, of common interests and
aims and relationships that have kept the two
nations woven together in the woof of one great
family 
  " Let me tell you a bit of personal sentiment
that links me to the old town of Chester on the
River Dee. There is a house there that, until
recently, was in the possession of my husband's
family for nobody knows how many generations.
Thousands of travellers go every year to see the
inscription over its door. Once, over two hun-
dred years ago, an awful plague swept the town,
and every family in it lost one or more of its

 


MILDRED' S INHERITANCE



household. Only this one house was spared,
and in grateful memory of its escape there was
carved over the door the inscription:

" GOD'S PROVIDENCE IS MINE INHERITANCE.

  "That became the family motto, and it is
eng-raved here in my wedding-ring. The beau-
tiful thought has helped me over many times of
perplexity and sorrow, and has become the in-
spiration of my life. Because we can trace it
back to that place, I have grown to love every
stone in the quaint old streets of Chester."
  She sat twisting the plain gold circlet on her
finger for a moment, and then added thought-
fully: "1 In the light of her history America
might well set that inscription over her own
door: 'God's providence is mine inheritance.'
It would be none the less appropriate because it
reaches back past the struggling colonists and
past the Aflailowc;' to find the roots of that
faith in the mother country, in a little English
town beside the Dee.
  ",No, my dear," she exclaimed, looking up at
Mildred; " it is not a land of strangers you are
going to. We sing ' America' and you sing
' God Save the Queen,' and we both feel some-



8

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



times that there is a vast difference between the
songs. But they are set to the same tune, you
know, and to alien ears, who cannot understand
our tongue or our temperament, they must
sound alike."
  Life seemed very different to Mildred when
she went to her stateroom that night, and her
cheery companion inspired her with so much
hope before the voyage was over that she began
to look forward to landing with some degree of
interest. How much of her new-found courage
was due to the presence of her helpful counsellor
Mildred did not realize until she came to the
parting. They were standing at the foot of the
gangplank in the New York custom-house.
  ,,I am sorry that I cannot stay to see you
safe in your uncle's care," the lady said, "but
my son tells me there is barely time to catch
the next train to Boston. Good-bye, my child.
If you get lonely and discouraged, think of the
motto in my wedding-ring, and take it for your
own. "
  The next instant Mildred felt, with a ter-
rible sinking of the heart, that she was all
alone in the great, strange, new world.
  Following the directions in her uncle's let-



9

 

MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



ter, she pushed her way through the crowds
until she came to the section marked I S,"
where he was to meet her.   There was no
one in sight who bore any resemblance to
the description he had written of himself. She
stood there until her trunk was brought up,
and then sat down on the battered little box
to wait.
  An hour went by, and she began to look
around with frightened, nervous -lances. A
half-hour more passed. The crowds had di-
minished, for the officials were making their
custom-house examinations as rapidly as pos-
sible. All around her the sections were being
emptied, and the baggage wheeled off in big
trucks. The newsboys and telegraph agents
had all gone. A great fear fell suddenly upon
her that her uncle was never coming, and that
she would soon be left entirely alone in this
barnlike, cavernous custom-house, with its bare
walls and dusty floors; and night was coming
on, and she had nowhere to go.
  She was groping in her pocket for a hand-
kerchief to stop the tears that would come,
despite her brave efforts to wink them back,
when some one spoke to her.    It was the



IO

 
















if



: W W N lW




A D
"' SAT DOWN ON THE BATTERED LITTLE BOX TO WAIT.'"

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MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



pretty college girl whom the others had called
Muffit.
  "Are you having trouble with your baggage
too  " she asked, kindly. "d One of our trunks
was misplaced, and they would not examine
anything until it was fouid. It is here at last,
thank fortune, so that we shall not be delayed
much longer. Mamma and I have noticed you
waiting here, and wondered if you were in the
same predicament. Papa says that he will be so
glad to help you in any way he can, if you
need his assistance."  She did not add that her
mother had said, " I can't go away with any
peace of mind until I see that child safe in
somebody's hands.'
  "There is some dreadful mistake!" sobbed
Mildred. "My uncle was to meet me here,
and I do not know what to do! " She buried
her face in her handkerchief, and the next min-
ute " Muffit's" mother had her arms around
her. Then she found that the girl's name was
not Muffit, but Mildred, like her own, Mildred
Rowland.
   When Mildred Stanhope told Mrs. Rowland
her name, that motherly woman exclaimed,
" Oh, Edward! What if it were our daughter



I 3

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



left in such a trying position!  She shall just
come to the hotel with us and stay until we
hear from her uncle. Wasn't it fortunate that
that old trunk delayed us so long ! We might
have hurried off and never known anything
about you. Well, it's all right now. Mr. Row-
land shall telegraph to your uncle, and wve will
keep you with us until he comes."
  The next two days wvere full of strange
experiences to Mildred. The rush and roar
of the great city, the life in the palatial hotel,
with its seeming miles of corridors and hundreds
of servants, bewildered her. In response to
Mr. Rowland's telegram the reply came: "Jo-
seph Barnard died last Wednesday. Call for
letter Blank Hotel." The message was signed
Derrick Jaynes. The letter, which Nvas brought
up an hour later, bore the same signature. It
had been written at the request of Mrs. Barnard
by her minister. It told Mildred of her uncle's
sudden death, occurring the day that she left
Liverpool, and had been sent to the hotel to
which Mr. Barnard had intended to take his
niece, Mrs. Barnard supposing that her hus-
band had given Mildred that address in case
of any slip in making connections.



14

 


MILDRED S INHERITANCE



  The kindly old minister seemed to realize
the unhappy position in which the young girl
was placed, and gave minute directions regard-
ing the journey she would have to take alone,
while Mr. Rowland arranged for her comfort
in the same fatherly way he would have done
for his own Mildred.  "What would I have
done without you " she exclaimed, in a chok-
ing voice, as she clung to Mrs. Rowland at
parting.  "Now I shall be adrift again, all
alone in the world, as soon as you unclasp your
hand."
  " No, Providence will take care of you, dear,"
answered Mrs. Rowland.   ,Just keep think-
ing of that motto you told me about, and let
us hear from you when you are safe in Carls-
ville."

  Easter had always come to Mildred with the
freshness of country meadows, with cowslips
and crocuses, with the soft green of budding
hedgerows and a chorus of twittering bird-calls
in the old rectory garden. This year, after her
long, dreary winter in Carlsville, she looked out
on the roofs of the smoky little manufacturing
town, and saw only red brick factories and



1 5

 


MILDRED S INHERITANCE



dingy houses and dirty streets. The longing
for the spring in her old English home lay in
her heart like a throbbing pain. An Oh, papa,"
she sobbed, resting her arms on the wvindow-sill
and laying her head wearily down, "do you
know all about it, dearest  Oh, if you could
only tell me what to do ! "
  A week before, her aunt, Belle Barnard, had
said, in her sickly, complaining voice, "W Well,
Mildred, I don't like to tell you, but I have
been talking the matter over with the girls, and
they think that we might as wvell be plain-
spoken with you.   Everybody thought that
your Uncle Joe was a rich man, and so did we
till we got the business settled up. Now we
find that after the lawyers are pai(l there won't
be enough for us all to live on comfortably.
At least there wouldn't be if it wasn't for a
small inheritance that Maud and Blanche have
from their grandmother, and, of course, they
couldn't be expected to divide that with you,
and deny themselves every comfort; so I don't
see any help for it but for you to get a place in
some store or millinery shop, or something.
We have to move in a smaller house next
week."



i6

 


MILDRED S INHERITANCE



  The week had nearly gone by, and Mildred
was growing desperate.   Unfitted for most
work, either in strength or education, she
scarcely knew for what to apply, and wvent from
one place to another at her aunt's recommenda-
tion, feeling like a forlorn little waif for whom
there was no place anywhere in the world.
  One afternoon she sat by her wvindow, look-
ing out on the early April SuInShinle, trying, With
the hopelessness of despair, to form some plan
for her future. "W Why didn't I have a grand-
mother to leave me an inheritance like Blanche
and Maud  " she thought, bitterly.
  Then her thoughts flew back to the day on
shipboard, when she had heard of the old house
in Chester and the inscription in her compan-
ion's wedding-ring. " And she told me to take
that motto for my own," she whispered through
her tears. "'God's providence is mine inher-
itance! ' If it is, the time has certainly come
for me to claim it, for I have never been in
such desperate need."
  The few times that winter that Mildred had
gone to any service, had been in the church in
the next block.  Its gray stone walls, with
masses of overhanging ivy, reminded her of the



1 7

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



one she had loved at home. God had seemed
so very far away since she came to Carlsville.
She prayed as she had always done before, but
her prayers seemed like helpless little birds,
unable to rise high enough to carry her plead-
ings to the ear of the great Creator who had
so many cries constantly going up to him. She
had not realized before how big the world was
and how small a part her little affairs played
in the plan of the great universe. A longing
for some closer communion than she had known
before drew her toward this church, of which
Derrick Jaynes was the rector. The door was
unlocked, and the slender black figure slipped
in unobserved. In the big empty church her
desolate little moan was all unheard and un-
heeded, as she knelt at the altar sobbing, " Oh,
God, I don't know what will become of me if
you do not help me now! Oh, show me ' mine
inheritance! ' "
  Three times during that week she went back
to that same place with that same cry. The
last time she went some one was in the church.
It was the organist, practising some new Easter
music for the next day's services. A burst of
triumphant melody greeted her as she noise-



i8

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



lessly opened the side door.  She met the
florist coming out, for he had just completed
the decorating, and the place was a mass of
bloom. All around the chancel stood the tall,
white Easter lilies, waiting, like the angels in
the open tomb, with their glad resurrection
message -" He is risen
  As Mildred stood with clasped hands, an
unspoken prayer rising with the organ's jubi-
lant tones and the incense of the lilies, she felt
a touch on her shoulder. It was the white-
haired old minister.
  " I saw you come in," he said, in a whisper.
"I have been trying all day to find time to call
at your aunt's to talk with you. You do not
know, but I have been in correspondence sev-
eral times this winter regarding you, with a Mr.
Rowland. He wrote me when you first came
that his wife and daughter were deeply inter-
ested in you, and wanted to be kept informed
of your welfare.  This morning I received a
letter which needs your personal answer. I am
very busy now, but shall try to see you Mon-
day in regard to it."
  Mildred's heart beat rapidly as he handed
her a large, businesslike-looking letter and



I9

 


MILDRED'S INHERITANCE



went softly out again. In the dim light of the
great stained-glass windows she read that poor
Muffit had overtaxed her eyes, and that they
were so badly affected she could not go back
to school for the spring term. In looking for
some one who could be eyes for their Mildred,
so that she might go on with her studies at
home, they had thought of this other Mildred,
the little English girl, whose low, musical voice
had been so carefully trained by her father in
reading aloud. By one of these strange provi-
dences which we never recognize as such at the
time, Mr. Rowland had broken his spectacles
the last evening of Mildred's stay in New York.
She had offered to read the magazine article
which he was particularly anxious to hear, and
they had been charmed by her beautifully mod-
ulated voice. Now the letter had been written
to offer her a liberal salary and a home for the
summer.
  Mildred gave a gasp of astonishment. It
was not the almost miraculous finding of what
she had come to seek that overwhelmed her.
It was a feeling that swept across her like a
flood, warm and sweet and tender; the sudden
realization that a hand stronger than death and



20

 




























        11 i
    t=  I  ,t., , -

41,-,
            -tl.

        , /-;;; -



_ vAdaw  e



4" SHE READ THAT POOR MUFFIT HAD OVERTAXE'D
                 HER EYES."



hhk

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           MILDRED' S INHERITANCE          23

wise above all human understanding had her in
its keeping. She dropped on her knees at the
flower-decked altar-rail, with face upturned and
radiant; no longer lonely; no longer afraid of
what the future might hold. She had come
into her inheritance.
  Kneeling there she looked back again to
her father's lowly grave in the little church-
yard across the seas, but she saw it no longer
through hopeless tears.  Into her heart the
great organ had pealed the gladness of its exult-
ant Easter message, and in the deep peace of
the silence which followed, the fragrance of the
lilies breathed a wordless "Amen!"

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JUST HER WAY

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         JUST HER WAY



  "LOOK out of the window, Judith! Quick!
Mrs. Avery is going away! " Judith Windham,
bending over the sewing-machine in her bed-
room, started as her little sister's voice came
piping shrilly up the stairs, and leaving her chair
she leaned out of the old-fashioned casement
window.
  There were so few goings and comings in
sleepy little Westbrooke, that the passing of the
village omnibus was an exciting event. With
an imposing rumble of yellow wheels it rattled
up to Doctor Allen's gate across the road. A
trunk, a dress suit case, and numerous valises
were hoisted to the top of it, and the doctor's
family flocked down to the gate to watch the
departure of the youngest member of their
household, Marguerite.
  It had been four years since the first time
they watched her go away, a nineteen-year-old
                     27

 


JUST HER WVAY



bride. Since then they had visited her, sever-
ally and collectively, in her elegant apartments
in XWashington, but this had been her first visit
home. Judith, watching her flutter down the
walk with her hand in the old doctor's, thought
she looked even prettier and more girlish than
on her -wedding-day. Married life had been all
roses for Marguerite.
  " She's the same dear old harum-scarum
Daisy she always wvas, in spite of the efforts of
her Lord Chesterfield of a husband to reform
her," thought Judith, fondly, as her old school-
mate, catching sight of her at the windoo,
waved her parasol so wildly that the staid old
'bus horses began to plunge.
  The girls had bidden each other good-bye the
night before, but Marguerite stopped in the
midst of her final embracings to call out,
" Good-bye, again, Judith. Remember, I shall
expect you the first of February." Then the
slender figure in its faultless tailor-made gown
disappeared into the omnibus. Her husband, a
distinguished, scholarly man, lifted his hat once
more and stepped in after her. The door banged
behind them, and, creaking and swaying, the
ancient vehicle moved off in a cloud of dust.



28

 
























































"THE PASSING OF THE VILLAGE OMNIBUS WAS AN

               EXCITING FVENT."

 This page in the original text is blank.

 
JUST HER WAY



  Feeling that something very bright and inter-
esting had dropped out of her life, Judith went
back to the sewing-machine. As she picked up
her work an involuntary sigh escaped her.
  "n That's a very sorry sound, Judith. Are
you tired  "
  It was a sympathetic voice that asked the
question, and Judith looked up with a smile.
Her mother's cousin stood in the doorway - a
prim little old spinster, who had been their
guest for several days. Like Marguerite, she,
too, had come back to her native village after an
absence of four years, but not to her father's
house. She was all alone in the world, save for
a few distant relatives who called her Cousin
Barbara. After a short visit, she would go
away for another long absence, but not, like
Marguerite, to a life full of many interests and
pleasures. She had only her music pupils in a
little Pennsylvania mining town, and a room in
a boarding-house.
  " Come in, Cousin Barbara," said Judith,
cordially. ' I was sighing over Marguerite's
departure. You know she was my best friend
at school, and I have missed her so much since
her marriage. The other girls in our class have



3 I

 


JUST HER WAY



all gone away to teach or take positions some-
where, except the two who married and settled
down here in Westbrooke; and they have such
different interests now. All they can talk about
is their housekeeping or their babies. Most of
the boys have gone away, too. I don't wonder.
Anybody with any ambition would get away
from such a place if it were within the range of
possibilities."
  Cousin Barbara had seated herself in a low
rocking-chair and was pulling the basting threads
from a finished garment. "' Listen! " she said,
"isn't that Amy calling again" An excited
little voice came shrilly up the stairs.
  " Look, Judith! Mrs. Avery is coming back
again ! What do you suppose is the matter "
  The omnibus dashing down the road stopped
suddenly at the gate opposite. The door burst
open, and the dignified Mr. Avery, in undignified
haste, ran breathlessly toward the house, while
Marguerite called out a laughing explanation to
her friend at the window.
  SKI left my watch on the dressing-table and
my purse with my trunk keys in it, and we've
only six minutes to catch the train. Isn't that
just my way Look at Algernon run! I



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wouldn't have believed it of him. Well, it has
given me another chance to remind you that
you are to come to me in February. You
needn't shake your head. I'll not take 'no'
for an answer. You're so good at planning,
Judith, I'm sure you can arrange it some way."
  Then as her husband returned, red-faced and
breathless, she leaned out of the 'bus, and
laughingly blew an airy kiss from her finger-
tips.
  "That's just like her!" exclaimed Judith.
"She's as irresponsible and careless as a child.
She was always late to school, and losing her
pencils and forgetting her books. We used to
call her ' Daisy Dilly-dally.' She's such a dear
little butterfly, though, and it doesn't seem pos-
sible that we are the same age - twenty-three.
I feel like a patriarch beside her."
  ",So she has invited you to visit her in
Washington," began Miss Barbara.    "1 I am
glad of that. It will be such a fine change for
you.
  To her surprise, the gray eyes filled with
tears, and in her effort to wink them back
Judith did not reply for a moment. Then she
answered, lightly, "Yes; it would be a golden



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opportunity if I could only afford to accept, but
the wolf is still at the door, Cousin Barbara. It
has stood in the way of everything I ever longed
to do. Even when a child I used to hear so
much about it that I thought it was a veritable
flesh-and-blood wolf. Many a night I slipped
out of bed and peered through the curtain, all
a-shiver. I wanted to see if its fiery eyeballs
were really watching at the door. I wanted to
see them if they were there, and yret was ter-
rified to peep out for fear they were. Even
now it seems more than a mere figure of speech.
Often I dream of having a hand-to-hand struggle
with it, but I always conquer it in the end - in
my dreams," she added, with a gay little laugh.
"And that is a good omen."
  That cheery laugh was the key-note of Judith's
character, Miss Barbara thought. All her life
she had taken the pinch of poverty bravely for
the sake of her invalid mother and the three
younger sisters whom she was now helping
through school. Gradually she had shouldered
the heavy responsibilities laid upon her, until
she had settled down to a routine of duty,
almost hopeless in its monotony. Miss Barbara
noted with keen eyes that a careworn look had



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become the habitual expression of the sweet
girlish face, and she sat wishing with all her
heart that she were something herself besides a
poorly paid little music teacher with the wolf
lurking at her own door. As she wound the
basting threads on a spool she planned the rose-
coloured future Judith should have if it were
only in her power to give it.
  Judith must have felt the unspoken sympathy,
for presently she burst forth: " If I could only
go away, just once, and have a real good time,
like other girls, just once, while I am young
enough to enjoy it, I wouldn't ask anything
more. I've never been ten miles outside of
Westbrooke, and I'm sure no one ever longed
to travel more than I. I never have any com-
pany of my own age. Our old set is all gone,
and my friends are either elderly people or the
school-children who come to see the girls. And
they all are so absorbed in the trivial village
happenings and neighbourhood gossip.
  ",What I want is to meet people out in the
world who really do things,-men like Mr.
Avery, for instance; Daisy is always entertain-
ing distinguished strangers, artists and authors
and musicians. Friendship with such cultured,



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interesting people would broaden the horizon of
my whole life. I have a feeling that if I could
once get away, it would somehow break the ice,
and things would be different ever after."' Then
she added, with a tinge of bitterness that rarely
crept into her voice, "I might as well plan to go
to the moon. The round-trip ticket alone, with-
out the sleeping-car berth,