Rosemary   By: Josephine Lawrence (1897?-1978)

ROSEMARY

By Josephine Lawrence

Illustrated by Thelma Gooch

NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

Rosemary

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I GOOD NEWS 1

II THE WILLIS WILL 12

III AUNT TRUDY COMES 23

IV DOCTOR HUGH TAKES COMMAND 34

V WINNIE'S VOLUNTEERS 45

VI ROSEMARY HAS HER WAY 54

VII THE RUNAWAY 65

VIII SARAH IN DISGRACE 76

IX WHEN PATIENCE SLIPS 87

X THE LAST STRAW 98

XI A CHAIN OF PROMISES 109

XII ONE DISASTROUS AFTERNOON 121

XIII JACK STRAIGHTENS THINGS OUT 132

XIV A NEW SCHOOL TERM 144

XV TOO MUCH NATURAL HISTORY 156

XVI MR. OLIVER AND SARAH 168

XVII THE INSTITUTE DINNER 180

XVIII SHIRLEY IN MISCHIEF 192

XIX BUCKING THE STUDENT COUNCIL 204

XX DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY 216

XXI MR. JORDAN LEARNS SOMETHING 228

XXII SHOPPING WITH NINA 240

XXIII SARAH LOSES A MENAGERIE 252

XXIV A MYSTERY SOLVED 264

XXV GARDEN DAYS 276

XXVI THE SCHOOL PICNIC 288

XXVII A LONG YEAR'S END 300

ROSEMARY

CHAPTER I

GOOD NEWS

The Willis house was very quiet. The comfortable screened porch was deserted, though a sweater in the hammock and a box of gay paper dolls on the floor showed that it had served as a play space recently. Inside, not a door banged, not a footfall sounded.

The late afternoon June sunshine streamed in through the hall window and made a broad band to the stairway which was in the shadow. The light touched the heads of three girls huddled closely together in the cushioned window seat and turned the hair of one to gleaming, burnished golden red, another to a fairy web of spun yellow silk and searched out the faint copper tint in the dark locks of the third. The girls sat motionless, their faces turned toward the stairs, as silent as everything else in that silent house.

"Rosemary!" whispered the dark haired one suddenly, "Rosemary, you don't think "

The girl with the gold red hair, who sat between the other two, started nervously. Her violet blue eyes transferred their anxious gaze from the shadowy staircase to her sister's face.

"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "No! Do you hear me, Sarah? That couldn't happen to us. Why do you say such things?"

"I didn't say anything," protested Sarah sullenly. "Did I, Shirley?"

The little girl with the fairy web of yellow hair did not answer. She started from her seat and ran toward the stairs.

"Hugh's coming!" she cried.

Quick, even steps sounded on the hardwood treads and a young man with dark hair, darker eyes behind eye glasses and a keen, intelligent face, descended rapidly. He picked up the child and strode across the hall to the window seat.

"Poor children!" he said compassionately, sitting down beside Rosemary and holding the younger girl in his lap. "Has the time seemed long? I came as quickly as I could."

Rosemary looked at him piteously.