Grace Harlowes Golden Summer

Harlowe's Golden Summer, by Jessie Graham Flower

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Title: Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer
Author: Jessie Graham Flower
Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20471]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer
By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.
Author of The Grace Harlowe High School Girls Series, The Grace Harlowe College Girls Series, etc.

PHILADELPHIA HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY Copyright, 1917

[Illustration: Grace's Embroidery Dropped From Her Hands.]

CONTENTS
I. A Song of Golden Summer
II. The House Behind the World
III. For Auld Lang Syne
IV. "To Thine Own Self Be True"
V. Flying in the Face of Superstition
VI. The Shadow
VII. The Veiled Prophetess of Destiny
VIII. Unveiling the Prophetess
IX. The Meaning of Semper Fidelis
X. The Shadow Deepens
XI. Postponing Happiness
XII. The Better
Part
XIII. An Innocent Meddler
XIV. The Beginning of the End
XV. Merely a Looker-On
XVI. J. Elfreda's Master Stroke
XVII. Fate
XVIII. A Gleam of Hope
XIX. The Letter
XX. The Last Chance
XXI. The Call of the Elf's Horn
XXII. Out of the Valley
XXIII. The Strange Story
XXIV. The Noon of Golden Summer

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Grace's Embroidery Dropped From Her Hands.
Devoted Love Shone in Her Clear Gray Eyes.
"Here You Are, Weary Wanderer," She Said Gayly.
"When You Have Found Tom, Give Him This Letter."

Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer
CHAPTER I
A SONG OF GOLDEN SUMMER
"Now, David, you know that I know that you don't know what I know. Therefore, if I know that you don't know what I know you don't know, it's very plain to be seen that either you or I know very little. Now, which of us is a know-nothing? Don't be afraid to confess. Remember, we are your friends." Hippy Wingate beamed benevolently upon his victim, bland expectation written on his plump face.
"No real friend of mine would ever take such cowardly advantage of the English language," was David Nesbit's scathing retort. "I'll leave it to Grace if I'm not right."
"There, Grace. At last you have an opportunity to strike for the right. I believe in striking a valiant blow for the right----"
"So do I," cut in Reddy Brooks decisively. "There is no time like the present. There couldn't be a better place. Away out here in this sequestered spot no one will hear your frenzied yells for help." Reddy rose determinedly from the steps of the old Omnibus House and made a nimble spring toward the loquacious prattler.
"Never touched me," was wafted defiantly back, as Hippy Wingate skilfully eluded Reddy's avenging hand and disappeared around the protecting corner of the one-time hostelry. The old Omnibus House had ever been his refuge when put to flight by his long-suffering companions.
"You might have known it," shrugged Nora Wingate with an indifference which marked long association with the verbose refugee. "In about three minutes you'll hear a frantic voice calling on me for protection. Don't say a word, any of you, but just listen."
A sudden silence, broken only by a soft chuckle from the abused David, descended on the seven young people occupying the worn stone steps.
"No-ra!" From the rear of the old house a plaintive voice sent up this anguished plea for succor.
"What did I tell you?" Nora's elaborate air of indifference vanished in a dimpling smile that was reflected on the faces of the group. No one said a word; neither did Nora rise to the noble duty of rescuer.
"All alone, all alone! By the wayside she has left me, And no other's love I'll be; For to-night I am deserted; Nora has forgotten me!"
intoned a mournful voice, flagrantly off the key.
"For to-night you are a nuisance, you mean," was Reddy Brooks' shouted correction. "I'll rescue you."
"Oh, my!" came Hippy's horrified accents, as Reddy Brooks leaped to his feet and dived toward the sheltering shadow that concealed the self-made outcast.
"Isn't it a lovely evening, David? Have you noticed it?" A fat, beaming face was cautiously thrust forth round a corner opposite to that from which the call for help had so recently emanated. A plump body still more cautiously followed the face. It was evident that Hippy considered David the lesser of two evils. "May I sit by you, Anne? I have always had a great deal of faith in you." Hippy became ingratiating. "I'm sorry I can't say as much for certain other persons whose names I courteously refrain from bringing into the discussion." Without waiting for the requested permission, Hippy crowded himself onto the small space which Anne, seated at one end of the top step, obligingly made for him, and calmly awaited the return of