The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor

The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor, by

Annie Fellows Johnston This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor
Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry
Release Date: April 28, 2007 [EBook #21248]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Works of
ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
=The Little Colonel Series=
(Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of.)
Each one vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated
The Little Colonel Stories $1.50 (Containing in one volume the three stories, "The Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and "Two Little Knights of Kentucky.") The Little Colonel's House Party 1.50 The Little Colonel's Holidays 1.50 The Little Colonel's Hero 1.50 The Little Colonel at Boarding-School 1.50 The Little Colonel in Arizona 1.50 The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation 1.50 The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor 1.50 The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding 1.50 The above 9 vols., boxed 13.50 In Preparation--A New Little Colonel Book 1.50
* * * * *
The Little Colonel Good Times Book 1.50
=Illustrated Holiday Editions=
Each one vol., small quarto, cloth, illustrated, and printed in colour
The Little Colonel $1.25 The Giant Scissors 1.25 Two Little Knights of Kentucky 1.25 Big Brother 1.25
=Cosy Corner Series=
Each one vol., thin 12mo, cloth, illustrated
The Little Colonel $.50 The Giant Scissors .50 Two Little Knights of Kentucky .50 Big Brother .50 Ole Mammy's Torment .50 The Story of Dago .50 Cicely .50 Aunt 'Liza's Hero .50 The Quilt that Jack Built .50 Flip's "Islands of Providence" .50 Mildred's Inheritance .50
=Other Books=
Joel: A Boy of Galilee $1.50 In the Desert of Waiting .50 The Three Weavers .50 Keeping Tryst .50 The Legend of the Bleeding Heart .50 Asa Holmes 1.00 Songs Ysame (Poems, with Albion Fellows Bacon) 1.00
* * * * *
=L. C. PAGE & COMPANY= =200 Summer Street Boston, Mass.=
[Illustration: "LLOYD ... TOOK HER PLACE BESIDE THE HARP" (See page 68)]

The Little Colonel:
Maid of Honor
By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
Author of "The Little Colonel Series," "Big Brother," "Ole Mammy's Torment," "Joel: A Boy of Galilee," "Asa Holmes," etc.
Illustrated by ETHELDRED B. BARRY
[Illustration]
BOSTON * L. C. PAGE & COMPANY * PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1906 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED)
* * * * *
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
* * * * *
All rights reserved
First Impression, October, 1906 Third Impression, August, 1907 Fourth Impression, April, 1908 Fifth Impression, March, 1909 Sixth Impression, February, 1910

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. AT WARWICK HALL 1 II. AT WARE'S WIGWAM 19 III. IN BEAUTY'S QUEST 31 IV. MARY'S "PROMISED LAND" 43 V. AT "THE LOCUSTS" 58 VI. THE FOX AND THE STORK 70 VII. THE COMING OF THE BRIDE 88 VIII. AT THE BEECHES 113 IX. "SOMETHING BLUE" 136 X. "A COON HUNT" 158 XI. THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 178 XII. THE WEDDING 198 XIII. DREAMS AND WARNINGS 216 XIV. A SECOND MAID OF HONOR 241 XV. THE END OF THE HOUSE-PARTY 258 XVI. THE GOLDEN LEAF OF HONOR 275

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"LLOYD ... TOOK HER PLACE BESIDE THE HARP" (See page 68) Frontispiece
"IT NEEDED NO SECOND GLANCE TO TELL HIM WHO SHE WAS" 20
"HE WAS LEANING FORWARD IN HIS CHAIR, TALKING TO JOYCE" 66
"A TALL, ATHLETIC FIGURE IN OUTING FLANNELS" 84
"A LONG-DRAWN 'O-O-OH' GREETED THE BEAUTIFUL TABLEAU" 132
"'ALL YOU GIRLS STANDING WITH YOUR HANDS STUCK THROUGH THE BARS'" 163
"'THEY STEPPED IN AND ROWED OFF DOWN THE SHINING WATERWAY'" 171
"'ONE, TWO, THREE--THROW!'" 253

THE LITTLE COLONEL,
MAID OF HONOR
CHAPTER I.
AT WARWICK HALL
It was mid-afternoon by the old sun-dial that marked the hours in Warwick Hall garden; a sunny afternoon in May. The usual busy routine of school work was going on inside the great Hall, but no whisper of it disturbed the quiet of the sleepy old garden. At intervals the faint clang of the call-bell, signalling a change of classes, floated through the open windows, but no buzz of recitations reached the hedge-hidden path where Betty Lewis sat writing.
The whole picturesque place seemed as still as the palace of the Sleeping Beauty. Even the peacocks on the terraced river-front stood motionless, their resplendent tails spread out in the sun; and although the air was filled with the odor of wild plum blossoms, the breeze that bore it through the arbor where Betty sat, absorbed in her work, was so gentle that it scarcely stirred the vines around her.
With her elbows resting on the rustic table in front of her, and one finger unconsciously twisting the lock of curly brown hair that strayed over her ear, she sat pushing her pencil rapidly across the pages of her note-book. At times she stopped to tap impatiently on the table, when the word she wanted