The Staying Guest

The next morning Ladybird woke early, with a strange feeling of suffocation. The day was warm, and the dimity curtains, the feather bed, and the night-cap all combined to stifle...

In a few moments a little girl tense with suppressed excitement, and a blinking, quivering dog sat facing a large, strong-looking man whose face betokened humorous as well as mu...

Chester Humphreys was by no means a fool, nor was he unduly influenced by Ladybird's rhapsodies; but the winsome and beautiful Stella had attracted him very strongly, and were i...

Over the hills and far away there was once a quaint little old town which was safely beyond the reach of the long, grasping arms of any of the great cities.

"Ladybird and Stella Russell seem to be great cronies," observed Miss Dorinda one afternoon as she sat knitting by the window and watched the two girls walking down the garden p...

Miss Priscilla rose and walked majestically to the door and turned the knob, fully expecting the door would open. But it would not open, of course, being locked, and the good la...

Ladybird hated school. Not the lessons, they were learned quickly enough, and with but little study; but the out-of-doors child grew very restive in the restraint and confinemen...

"Mr. Humphreys," said Miss Priscilla Flint, "I cannot tell you how sorry I am that my niece should have been guilty of this escapade; but I beg you to believe that we regret it...

Every one knows the comforting qualities of hot waffles and syrup, so none will be surprised to learn that after supper Ladybird was in a frame of mind nothing short of angelic.

But the child's sense of the dramatic was too strong for this, and notwithstanding her own precarious position, she preferred to wait and let the whole remarkable situation burs...

At half-past three Thursday afternoon Ladybird was in the plum-orchard. It had never occurred to her to doubt the arrival of Chester Humphreys, or that he could experience any d...

With no other intent than to put as great a distance as possible between herself and Primrose Hall, Ladybird wandered on through the last of the Flint orchards, and found hersel...

"We ought to be ashamed of ourselves, you and I, Clops," she said, "because, if that isn't the real Lavinia, there's no use in our making a fuss; and if it is, why, then she is...

The next day Chester Humphreys and Stella Russell sat talking together. They were sitting on the ground under a certain historic apple-tree, and the young man held the girl's ve...

"Don't bother, Ladybird," said Chester; "understand once for all that when we wish to be left to our own 'self,' we will either arrange it cleverly and unostentatiously, or else...

Once having accepted the fact that Ladybird was to remain at Primrose Hall, Miss Priscilla began to lay plans as to how her small niece should live and move and have her being.

As the weeks and months went on, life at Primrose Hall adjusted itself to the new conditions made necessary by the addition of a child and a dog to its hitherto unrippled routine.

Dinner at Primrose Hall was rather an elaborate meal, and was always served promptly at six o'clock. Old Josiah Flint had been very particular about his household appointments a...

"Tie the basket on, Matthew," she called, and the old man, mumbling, "It's as much as me place is worth," tied the basket firmly to the string and started it on its ascending co...

After Ladybird's letter was safely on its way to her grandmother, the child told the Flint ladies what she had done, and Miss Priscilla decided to await the outcome of Ladybird'...

The mite gave a quick, comprehensive look at each one, and then, intuitively judging by the superior cap-ruffles rather than by any appearance of friendly welcome, she pointed a...