Aunt Patty's paying guests

"Oh, I do not mean that you may not read a storybook now and then, or amuse yourself with the magazines," he said calmly, "but anything like study I absolutely forbid."

Meanwhile the day on which I had expected to go up for my examination arrived and found me in a most dismal and unhappy frame of mind. My health as yet showed no signs of improv...

So Mrs. Redmayne's visits were distinct trials, and we were thankful they did not occur often. She had five children, three of whom were girls, but we knew almost nothing about...

THE old country house known as "Gay Bowers," which had been my aunt's home ever since she married, was situated some five miles from Chelmsford and no nearer to the railway. It...

THE journey and the excitement of my arrival had exhausted me more than I imagined. I woke the next morning with a terrible headache and was unable to leave my bed all day. Nor...

"I BEGIN to think that the money I have spent on advertisements is just money thrown away," said Aunt Patty, rather ruefully one morning as we sat in the breakfast-room at the c...

WHEN Thursday came I could see that Aunt Patty looked forward with some nervousness to the arrival of her guest. Everything was in readiness. The Professor would be hard to plea...

MR. JOSIAH DICKS and his daughter arrived on the following day, just as we were about to sit down to luncheon. They drove in a fly from Chelmsford and brought with them a goodly...

"IS Miss Nan here?" asked Mr. Dicks, opening the door of the drawing-room, where I had been pouring out tea for Aunt Patty and such of her guests as liked the fragrant beverage....

MY hopes were doomed to disappointment. Aunt Clara wrote that Agneta would be only too pleased to share my room, as she had a nervous dread of sleeping alone in a strange place....

WE sat down to dinner rather earlier than usual that evening because father had to catch a train which left Chelmsford a little before nine. Mr. Faulkner's place at the table wa...

IN spite of the fears she had exhibited on her arrival, Paulina Dicks was apparently content with her life at "Gay Bowers." As she appeared cheerful, and was never one to disgui...

WHEN Dr. Poole arrived, he confirmed Miss Cottrell's verdict. Happily the doctor was an eminently practical man, and, being an old friend of aunt's, he was disposed to regard th...

JACK seemed rather annoyed to find that I was not alone, though Alan Faulkner immediately decided that it was time he went to his morning's work and rode off. Jack wanted me to...

"NAN, who do you think I saw in Regent Street?" exclaimed my sister Dora, more eagerly than grammatically as she came into the little back garden—a typical London "garden"—consi...

WHEN we all met at breakfast the next morning there was a good deal of laughing and joking about the burglar, as we congratulated each other that he had not disturbed our rest....

WE gained the house without encountering anybody. Agneta went upstairs at once, while I hastened to get her a cup of tea. Entering the dining-room, I found Alan Faulkner seated...

GREENTREE HALL, the residence of Squire Canfield, as the countryfolk called him, was situated not more than a quarter of a mile from "Gay Bowers," measuring the distance as the...

"It is I who should put such questions," was my reply. "Why are you, Agneta, running away thus? How could you dare to send such a false excuse to Aunt Patty?"

UNCLE REDMAYNE adhered to his resolve, and took Agneta back to Manchester on the following afternoon. Mother would gladly have kept her for a few days; but he seemed to feel tha...

"Oh, no, auntie, it is not that," I said quickly; "but I have grown very tired of hearing Miss Cottrell talk about Mr. Dicks and dilate upon the glories and delights that await...

"IT is a restless age," observed Colonel Hyde the next morning, as with the utmost precision and deliberation, he opened his egg. "My godson was in London yesterday, yet he must...

"Ha, ha!" laughed the individual in question. "Not bad, that! She hits straight, does Pollie. But why shouldn't I be pleased with myself? I've done well in my time. I began with...

AUNT PATTY was as much astonished as I was to see Professor Faulkner calmly walking in the garden as if he had never been away. But before she had time to express her amazement...

I SUPPOSE a girl is never so humble as when she knows that she has won the love of a noble-minded man, far above herself in every way. Certainly I felt very conscious of my own...