Bouncing Bet

Tommy grinned. “No, sir, nothin’ o’ that sort. I’m too comfortable.” He bounced up and down in the springy easy-chair as if to illustrate his words. “And, my goodness, I’d a hea...

MRS. PHILLIPS had friends in Paulding and other towns nearby, and though she was in mourning and did not go out much, entertained constantly at home. But on this particular nigh...

TOMMY FINNEMORE was seldom enthusiastic over anything except magic. Everyone in the village liked the odd, lazy, careless lad; but though he cherished no dislike for anyone, nea...

THE man who opened the door was so fine and imposing that Betty would have taken him for Mr. Meadowcroft if she hadn’t known of the latter’s infirmity. She asked for him in her...

AS Betty Pogany left the Phillips house, unconsciously she walked faster than she ever walked unless Aunt Sarah had kept her and she was in danger of being late for school. In t...

“GOOD HEAVENS! Betsey Pogany!” cried Aunt Sarah, and then poured forth such a torrent of reproaches as Betty had never heard. The “good heavens!” in itself was a volume. Betty h...

MRS. PHILLIPS rushed into her brother’s room in unwonted excitement. “Humphrey, look quick! Bouncing Bet is going by, and--_will_ you see her! Did you ever see the like of that?”

“ROSE, I’ve got something to tell you!” cried Betty eagerly. “It’s something splendid, but I can’t do it here. Come out and take a walk, won’t you? You see I want to be sure to...

“TOMMY, I have missed you shockingly. You haven’t been in for days and days. I suppose science has been benefiting at my expense. Magic must have been working like yeast?” Mr. M...

TOMMY passed on Mr. Meadowcroft’s word to Betty and the girl went in the next day after school. Prepared as he had been to see a transformation, Meadowcroft was nevertheless alm...

AUNT SARAH was out, but Betty attacked her practising vigorously and with conscientious regard to her weekly lesson. Nevertheless though she was in the middle of a march when he...

“THERE’S a man I could easily find it in my heart to envy,” Humphrey Meadowcroft said to himself one evening a fortnight later as he sat alone in his room in the almost empty ho...

IT seemed almost like coming home to Humphrey Meadowcroft to return to South Paulding at the end of the summer. He didn’t remember experiencing such a sensation of assurance and...

NEXT day, shortly after noon, Humphrey Meadowcroft wheeled his chair close to one of the front windows and began gazing down into the street. He knew the habitudes of the villag...

MEADOWCROFT was saying to himself that he wouldn’t have believed Rose Harrow had it in her to do what she must have done, when Herbie came in with lights and he forgot everythin...

“WHAT’S the matter with you, anyhow, Betty Pogany?” Tommy demanded fiercely. He was the most even-tempered, good-humored lad in the world, but at this time he was secretly deepl...

TOMMY had done wonders at his lessons during the first term at the high school and he had accomplished more than usual with his magic. And in any event his persistence and perse...

ROSE HARROW wouldn’t have felt slighted had she known that Mr. Meadowcroft didn’t think of including her among his friends. She realized, as Betty did not, that he didn’t care f...

IT was hard to wait, but Betty decided to say nothing to Rose until next day. She merely asked her to spend the following afternoon with her, begging her to come early because A...

TOMMY went to the station to meet the four o’clock train from Paulding. Not finding the girls, he walked out of the village a little way over the familiar highway between the vi...

BY this time it had come to be generally if tacitly understood both in South Paulding and at the high school that Rose Harrow should have everything she wanted within the limits...

TOMMY had told Betty of a cross road which avoided Paulding and saved half a mile. As soon as the girls were out of the dirty village and facing home, Betty turned eagerly to Rose.

BETTY POGANY’S almost lifelong experience which she had compared to wearing her sacque wrong-side-out had given her a certain power of concentration which was to be valuable to...

AFTER they left Rose and were walking home under his faded umbrella with its streaks of green, Tommy left off his chattering and fell silent. He had felt Betty’s involuntary rec...

TOMMY FINNEMORE’S foolish boasting lost nothing in repetition. When it came with accretions to his father’s ear, that gentleman, who shared the general high respect and admirati...

MEANWHILE, Betty and Rose had been making their weekly visit to Millville with no difficulty other than that of securing the fee of three dollars every seven days. With a dollar...

AS a matter of fact, Meadowcroft made no attempt to return to South Paulding that night. He hadn’t realized the fall in temperature, but glancing out the window once or twice du...

ON the first Wednesday that Tommy Finnemore abandoned Latin Composition he made his way to the book-store, passed the time agreeably in looking over the small stock of books on...

“I didn’t mean to be so fresh this morning, honest and true,” the boy burst forth breathlessly. “I’m just no end cut up about it, Mr. Meadowcroft. I don’t see--gee! I wish you h...

AS she turned, Betty glanced fearfully at Rose. But even now poor Rose didn’t understand. As she made her way to her seat, she carried herself nonchalantly, putting out her tong...

“MR. MEADOWCROFT, will you please excuse Rose and me at ten minutes before two?” the girl asked in a low, strained voice. Her desperation made of the request a veritable demand.

BY the time school was dismissed and the extra class called upon to recite, Betty’s feelings were so wrought up that she felt like throwing her books on the floor and screaming....

THE last day of the term had come and the last day of Mr. Meadowcroft’s incumbency; for the principal of the school had fully recovered and would return to his duty after the Ea...

ON Wednesday afternoon, Betty and Rose set out directly after dinner, ostensibly for Paulding, in reality for Millville, with nine dollars in the little pocket of Betty’s blouse...

“We shall be at your side gate in two minutes,” returned Betty. And Rose detected almost a sob in her voice. Reaching the gate she stopped, drew Betty down, flung her arms about...

Betty stared at him. “Come into the station--no, stand under this light, Tommy,” she bade him, “and read this.” And she thrust a paper into his hand with glaring headlines and a...

AS Humphrey Meadowcroft changed cars at a junction twenty miles below Paulding, though he exchanged a Pullman express for a crowded and dingy coach of an accommodation train, he...

MRS. PHILLIPS had guests that evening. Her brother excused himself directly after dinner and retired to his own apartments. He had scarcely opened his book when Herbie came up t...

BETTY drew a deep sigh. She hadn’t dreamed she would ever feel eager again. Indeed, she had vaguely expected to go through the remainder of her years burdened with the sense of...

THE first use to which the great handsome room with its beamed ceiling, great chimney, deep fire-place, and handsome solid furnishings was put was social, however, rather than e...