Amy in Acadia (continued 6)

"And Pierre?" added Amy.

"And Eunice? Of course we could stay over one train at Wolfville," pleaded Priscilla.

"My dear children," remonstrated Mrs. Redmond, "I fear that you did not understand me. I must be in Boston as quickly as possible, and that means that we must take the direct boat from Halifax."

"All of us? Then Lucian and I will return to New England with hardly a glimpse of the real Acadia."

"I have no control over your movements. You and Lucian must do whatever seems best for yourselves."

"Whatever you advise is best," interposed Lucian, gallantly, "but I am pretty sure that Fritz will agree with me that it would be much pleasanter for us if you would permit us to return with you."

"Not only pleasanter, but much safer for some of the members of your party;" and Fritz assumed an air of importance.

"Yes," added Lucian, "there's my sister. Suppose she should accidentally fall overboard, or—"

"Or suppose Amy should lose her keys," interrupted Fritz, "or—"

"There, there, if the girls never suffer greater mishaps than those that have come to them this summer, they will do very well. We call this a pretty successful trip."

"And really," added Martine, "nothing that has happened was anybody's fault. Those things were simply adventures, and besides, I might easily have had scarlet fever; so congratulate me on my escape. Even a trip through Acadia would have been just a little dull without some mishaps."

When Mrs. Redmond had left the young people to themselves, they separated into two groups, Martine and Priscilla and Lucian in one, and Amy and Fritz in another.

"Now, Priscilla," cried Martine, "since we are friends again, perhaps you will not object to telling me why you were annoyed with me yesterday. Even Lucian noticed it."

Priscilla, coloring at this abrupt question, glanced shyly at Lucian.

"Oh, you needn't mind Lucian," said Martine, noting the direction of her glance. "He doesn't count."

Thus Priscilla, feeling less afraid of Lucian's criticism than of his sister's reckless tongue, admitted that her feelings had been hurt by the glimpse that she had had of Martine with her finger on her lips.

"I always have hated secrets," she admitted, "especially when it seems as if some one is trying to keep something from me. I thought that if you and Amy didn't wish me to know anything,—I mean, if there was anything that you didn't wish me to know,—why I wouldn't intrude; but I realize now how foolish I was, especially as the secret was something pleasant for me."

"After all, I didn't tell it to Amy then, so you might as well have stayed with us."

"Oh, no, she mightn't, for then Miss Denman and I wouldn't have had that visit to the Green Market. You, by the way, will miss it, because you won't be here next Market Day," interposed Lucian.

"It certainly was great fun, especially Mr. Malachai Robertson," added Priscilla, with a smile, "and I have learned one thing—not to indulge myself in any little jealous feelings, particularly on this trip."

"On this trip;" and Martine shook her finger at her friend. "To think that Puritan Prissie should break forth into slang!" But the only effect of her ridicule was to make Priscilla smile too, and open her heart a little wider.

"I haven't quite finished my confession," she continued. "You know yesterday morning, when your brother and I came home from the Green Market, I overheard you talking to Amy about some one who was 'narrow-minded and conventional,' and you didn't wonder she disliked her, and I thought it was me," concluded poor Priscilla, with an apparent disregard of grammar.

"Of course we didn't mean you," responded Martine, "although at this moment I don't quite—oh, yes, I do remember. It was Miss Belloc, one of Amy's classmates. Amy was telling me of some priggish things that Miss Belloc had said, and I did use those very words yesterday. But if you had listened longer you would have heard Amy say, 'not that I disliked Miss Belloc, but her narrow views.' Then you would have known that we didn't mean you."

"Oh, I know that you didn't, and I realize now that I have been very unfair."

"Oh, no, only a little unfair," rejoined Martine, "but 'least said, soonest mended,' and the most important thing is that now we are both going to be perfectly fair after this."

Meanwhile Amy and Fritz were discussing various practical matters.

"Your mother and I have been talking over this letter of Mr. Stratford's, and we both agree that you probably will not disagree with us—in other words, we think it would be wiser for you girls not to send money to your protégé Pierre, or to Yvonne, or Eunice, until after we have reached Boston." Fritz had assumed a manner of unwonted dignity, and with difficulty Amy refrained from laughing at him.

"Delay will give Martine time to find out if it is best to put part of the money in the hands of some one to spend for Yvonne in Clare, or whether it would be better to have her come to Boston to have her eyes treated. Then, after you have talked with one or two teachers, you can judge whether Pierre is too young to have a course of manual training. You don't know what you want yourself yet."

"Really, Fritz!"

"Yes, really, Miss Amy Redmond, I think that the poor little beggar ought to have some fun with his hundred dollars, instead of being ground down to more education. Then, as to Eunice Airton and her brother, why, if they really are cousins of Martine's, Priscilla Denman needn't have them on her mind any longer. Mr. Stratford will come down with something handsome, so they might have this hundred as an instalment to get some fun with at once."

"You don't know Balfour Airton. I shouldn't be surprised if he should insist on his sister's returning Martine's present."

"Then the sooner Martine proves her cousinship the better. The money can wait until that is accomplished. Now a word especially for you, Miss Amy Redmond. Please admit that Lucian and I are very magnanimous in making so few reflections upon our banishment. Also admit, please, that you would have had a much better time if we had been with you."

"We couldn't have had a better time," averred Amy, stoutly. "We've enjoyed every minute of it, and I shall return to college a new person. Why, I've gained ten pounds in these few weeks."

"Ah, Amy," sighed Fritz, "you are as practical and unsentimental as ever you were at Rockley. Yet you love old graveyards, and can write poetry. Here I would have saved you from fire and flood, could have kept your keys in my care, and still you say that by yourselves you have had a better time than if we had been with you!"

"Oh, no, I didn't say that, only that we have had so pleasant a time that it couldn't have been better."

Here Amy stopped. She saw that she had involved herself in a contradiction; so with Fritz's laughing voice ringing in her ears she hastened indoors to talk over with Mrs. Redmond the various arrangements for their departure from Acadia.

THE END

HELEN LEAH REED'S

"BRENDA" BOOKS

BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB

Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50.

The Boston Herald says: "Miss Reed's girls have all the impulses and likes of real girls as their characters are developing, and her record of their thoughts and actions reads like a chapter snatched from the page of life. It is bright, genial, merry, wholesome, and full of good characterizations."

BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY

Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. 12mo. $1.50.

A charming picture of vacation life along the famous North Shore of Massachusetts.

The Outlook says: "The author is one of the best equipped of our writers for girls of larger growth. Her stories are strong, intelligent, and wholesome."

BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE

Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50.

A remarkably real and fascinating story of a college girl's career, excelling in interest Miss Reed's first "Brenda" book. The Providence News says of it: "No better college story has been written." The author is a graduate of Radcliffe College which she describes.

BRENDA'S BARGAIN

Illustrated. 12mo. $1.50.

"The fourth and last of the 'Brenda' books," says The Bookman, "deals with social settlement work, under conditions with which the author is familiar." The Boston Transcript adds: "This book is by far the best of the series."

LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, Publishers 254 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

A Story for Younger Girls

IRMA AND NAP

By HELEN LEAH REED

Author of "Amy in Acadia," The "Brenda" Books, etc.

Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood. 12mo. $1.25

A brightly written story about children from eleven to thirteen years of age, who live in a suburban town, and attend a public grammar school. The book is full of incident of school and home life.

The story deals with real life, and is told in the simple and natural style which characterized Miss Reed's popular "Brenda" stories.—Washington Post.

There are little people in this sweetly written story with whom all will feel at once that they have been long acquainted, so real do they seem, as well as their plans, their play, and their school and home and everyday life.—Boston Courier.

Her children are real; her style also is natural and pleasing.—The Outlook, New York.

Miss Reed's children are perfectly natural and act as real girls would under the same circumstances. Nap is a lively little dog, who takes an important part in the development of the story.—Christian Register, Boston.

A clever story, not a bit preachy, but with much influence for right living in evidence throughout.—Chicago Evening Post.

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON

ANNA CHAPIN RAY'S

"TEDDY" STORIES

Miss Ray's work draws instant comparison with the best of Miss Alcott's: first, because she has the same genuine sympathy with boy and girl life; secondly, because she creates real characters, individual and natural, like the young people one knows, actually working out the same kind of problems; and, finally, because her style of writing is equally unaffected and straightforward.—Christian Register, Boston.

TEDDY: HER BOOK. A Story of Sweet Sixteen Illustrated by Vesper L. George. 12mo. $1.50.

This bewitching story of "Sweet Sixteen," with its earnestness, impetuosity, merry pranks, and unconscious love for her hero, has the same spring-like charm.—Kate Sanborn.

PHEBE: HER PROFESSION. A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book" Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 12mo. $1.50.

This is one of the few books written for young people in which there is to be found the same vigor and grace that one demands in a good story for older people.—Worcester Spy.

TEDDY: HER DAUGHTER A Sequel to "Teddy: Her Book," and "Phebe: Her Profession" Illustrated by J. B. Graff. 12mo. $1.50.

It is a human story, all the characters breathing life and activity.—Buffalo Times.

NATHALIE'S CHUM Illustrated by Ellen Bernard Thompson. 12mo. $1.50.

Nathalie is the sort of a young girl whom other girls like to read about.—Hartford Courant.

URSULA'S FRESHMAN. A Sequel to "Nathalie's Chum" Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 12mo. $1.50.

The best of a series already the best of its kind.—Boston Herald.

NATHALIE'S SISTER. A Sequel to "Ursula's Freshman" Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens. 12mo. $1.50.

Peggy, the heroine, is a most original little lady who says and does all sorts of interesting things. She has pluck and spirit, and a temper, but she is very lovable, and girls will find her delightful to read about.—Louisville Evening Post.

New Illustrated Editions of Miss Alcott's Famous Stories

THE LITTLE WOMEN SERIES

By Louisa M. Alcott. Illustrated Edition. With eighty-four full-page plates from drawings especially made for this edition by Reginald B. Birch, Alice Barber Stephens, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Harriet Roosevelt Richards. 8 vols. Crown 8vo. Decorated cloth, gilt, in box, $16.00.

Separately as follows:

1. LITTLE MEN: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys With 15 full-page illustrations by Reginald B. Birch. $2.00.

2. LITTLE WOMEN: or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy With 15 full-page illustrations by Alice Barber Stephens. $2.00.

3. AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL With 12 full-page pictures by Jessie Willcox Smith. $2.00.

4. JO'S BOYS, and How They Turned Out A Sequel to "Little Men." With 10 full-page plates by Ellen Wetherald Ahrens. $2.00.

5. EIGHT COUSINS; or, the Aunt-Hill With 8 full-page pictures by Harriet Roosevelt Richards.

6. ROSE IN BLOOM A Sequel to "Eight Cousins." With 8 full-page pictures by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. $2.00.

7. UNDER THE LILACS With 8 original full-page pictures by Alice Barber Stephens. $2.00.

8. JACK AND JILL With 8 full-page pictures from drawings by Harriet Roosevelt Richards. $2.00.

The artists selected to illustrate have caught the spirit of the originals and contributed a series of strikingly beautiful and faithful pictures of the author's characters and scenes.—Boston Herald.

Alice Barber Stephens, who is very near the head of American illustrators, has shown wonderful ability in delineating the characters and costumes for "Little Women," They are almost startlingly realistic.—Worcester Spy.

Miss Alcott's books have never before had such an attractive typographical dress as the present. They are printed in large type on heavy paper, artistically bound, and illustrated with many full-page drawings.—Philadelphia Press.

LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY Publishers, 254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.