Fernley House   By: Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (1850-1943)

BOOKS FOR GIRLS

By Laura E. Richards

The MARGARET SERIES

Three Margarets Margaret Montfort Peggy Rita Fernley House

The HILDEGARDE SERIES

Queen Hildegarde Hildegarde's Holiday Hildegarde's Home Hildegarde's Neighbors Hildegarde's Harvest

DANA ESTES & COMPANY Publishers Estes Press, Summer St., Boston

[Illustration: "HUGH AND MARGARET, ALL UNCONSCIOUS OF HER SCRUTINY, WERE ENJOYING THEMSELVES EXTREMELY."]

FERNLEY HOUSE

BY LAURA E. RICHARDS

AUTHOR OF "CAPTAIN JANUARY," "MELODY," "QUEEN HILDEGARDE," "GEOFFREY STRONG," ETC.

Illustrated by ETHELDRED B. BARRY

[Illustration]

BOSTON DANA ESTES & COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1901 BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY

All rights reserved

FERNLEY HOUSE

Colonial Press Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. A DUET 11

II. MRS. PEYTON'S COMPANION 23

III. AN ARRIVAL 33

IV. UNCLE JOHN'S IDEA 46

V. A VISION 58

VI. ALI BABA 70

VII. MORE ARRIVALS 86

VIII. HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF 100

IX. ABOUT NOTHING IN PARTICULAR 114

X. GRACE'S SYSTEM 128

XI. THE MYSTERIES OF FERNLEY 143

XII. THE EGG OF COLUMBUS 161

XIII. IN THE TWILIGHT 168

XIV. THE FIRE 183

XV. JEWELS: AND AN AWAKENING 195

XVI. FOR AULD LANG SYNE 205

XVII. IN THE GARDEN 217

XVIII. UNCLE JOHN'S BIRTHDAY 225

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE "HUGH AND MARGARET, ALL UNCONSCIOUS OF HER SCRUTINY, WERE ENJOYING THEMSELVES EXTREMELY" Frontispiece

"MARGARET DID THE HONORS, STILL FEELING VERY SHY" 29

"AT THIS MOMENT POLLY APPEARED, RED CHEEKED AND BREATHLESS" 33

"SHE WAS A SLENDERER PEGGY, WITH THE SAME BLUE, HONEST EYES" 86

"SHE LOOKED UP, AND SAW GRACE SITTING ON A BROAD, LOW BRANCH" 137

"ON THE SECOND LANDING THEY PAUSED TO SALUTE THE OLD PORTRAITS" 148

"A TALL, SLENDER FIGURE HALF RAN, HALF TOTTERED INTO THE ROOM" 181

"'I PROPOSE . . . THE HEALTH OF THE BEST MAN . . . THAT LIVES UPON THIS EARTH TO DAY; . . . THE HEALTH OF MY UNCLE JOHN!'" 238

FERNLEY HOUSE

CHAPTER I.

A DUET

"Well, Margaret!"

"Well, Uncle John!"

"Not a word to throw at a dog, as Rosalind says?"

"You are not a dog, Uncle John. Besides, you know all about it without my saying a word, so why should I be silly, and spoil your comfortable cigar? Dear children! They will have a delightful time, I hope; and of course it is perfectly right that they should go to their father when he wants them; and the summer will pass quickly."

"Very quickly!" Mr. Montfort assented, watching his smoke rings float upward.

"And Peggy is coming; and oh, we shall be all right, of course we shall; only we do miss them, don't we, Uncle?"

"I should think we did! A house is a poor place without children; and we flatter ourselves that our two eh, Margaret?"