The Little Colonels Chum: Mary Ware

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The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware

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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's Chum: Mary Ware
Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
Illustrator: Etheldred B. Barry
Release Date: May 20, 2005 [EBook #15867]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware
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]
L.C. PAGE & COMPANY
BOSTON PUBLISHERS
_Copyright, 1908_ BY L.C. PAGE AND COMPANY (INCORPORATED)
* * * * *
_Entered at Stationers' Hall, London_
* * * * *
All rights reserved
Made in U.S.A.
Twenty-third Impression, July, 1944 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE COLONIAL PRESS INC., CLINTON, MASS.

To M.G.J.
[Illustration: "HER KEEN GRAY EYES SWEPT HIM ONE QUICK LOOK." (_See page 4_)]

Preface
=Dear Boys and Girls Who Are Old Friends of the Little Colonel:=
When I finished the eighth volume of the Little Colonel Stories, The Maid of Honour, I thought I had reached the end of the series, but such a flood of letters came pouring in demanding to know what happened next, that I could not ignore such a plea, and in consequence The Little Colonel's Knight came riding by.
But even with Lloyd married and "living happily ever after" her friends were not satisfied. "You skipped" they complained by the hundreds. "You never told what happened between the time of her engagement and the wedding, and you never told what happened to Betty and Joyce and Mary and Phil and all the rest of them. Even if you haven't time for another book, couldn't you just please write me a little letter and satisfy my curiosity about each character."
Of course I couldn't begin granting all those requests, and finally I was persuaded it would be easier to answer your questions with a new book. So here is Mary Ware, taking up the thread of the story at the first of the skipped places. The time is September, the same September that Betty went away to Warwick Hall to teach and Lloyd began to prepare for her debut in Louisville.
Now this volume covers only one short year, so of course it can not tell you all you want to know. But if you are disappointed because it does not take you to the final milestone, remember that had we gone that far it would have been the end of all our journeying together. And we have it from our Tusitala himself, that best beloved of travellers, for whom in a far island of the sea was dug "a Road to last for ever," that "to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." A.F.J.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MARY ENTERS WARWICK 1 II. "THE KING'S CALL" 18 III. ROOM-MATES 37 IV. "AYE, THERE'S THE RUB!" 56 V. A FAD AND A CHRISTMAS FUND 81 VI. JACK'S WATCH-FOB 103 VII. IN JOYCE'S STUDIO 125 VIII. CHRISTMAS DAY AT EUGENIA'S 141 IX. THE BRIDE-CAKE SHILLING COMES TO LIGHT 163 X. HER SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY 190 XI. TROUBLE FOR EVERYBODY 205 XII. THE GOOD-BYE GATE 222 XIII. THE JESTER'S SWORD 237 XIV. BACK AT LONE-ROCK 262 XV. KEEPING TRYST 286

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"HER KEEN GRAY EYES SWEPT HIM ONE QUICK LOOK" (See page 4) Frontispiece "LAY BACK UNDER ITS SHELTERING CANOPY WITH A SUPPRESSED GIGGLE" 52
"INSTEAD, IT SEEMED AS IF A SMALL CYCLONE SWEPT THROUGH THE ROOM" 79
"THE GIRLISH FIGURE ENVELOPED IN A LONG LOOSE WORKING APRON" 125
"SHE WAS A FASCINATING LITTLE CREATURE, ALL SMILES AND DIMPLES" 153
"ALL SHE SAW WAS THE TELLER'S WINDOW, WITH A SHREWD-EYED MAN BEHIND ITS BARS" 172
"OUT ON THE PORCH SHE HEARD FROM NORMAN HOW IT HAD HAPPENED" 263
"WHEN SHE DROVE A NAIL IT HELD THINGS TOGETHER" 280

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHUM: MARY WARE
CHAPTER I
MARY ENTERS WARWICK HALL
The bus running between Warwick Hall Station and Warwick Hall school drew up at the door of the great castle-like building with as grand a flourish as if it carried the entire Senior class, and deposited one lone passenger upon the steps. As it was several days before the opening of the Fall term, no pupils were expected so soon, and but few of the teachers had returned. There was no one to see the imposing arrival of the little Freshman except the butler, who had been drawn to the front window by the sound of wheels. It devolved on him to answer the