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.

"All right, dear," he said instantly. "Mother is going to get well.
Dr. Hurlbut and I have decided that all she needs is a long rest. I
am going to take her to a quiet place in the country day after
to-morrow and she is to stay until she is entirely recovered. Why
Rosemary!"

The gold-red head was on his shoulder and Rosemary