153

CHAPTER XIII

HARRY 168

CHAPTER XIV

KEZIA'S COUNSEL 183

CHAPTER XV

'HAPPY EVER SINCE' 195

ILLUSTRATIONS

'I'd like to know your sisters that are as little as me's
names.' _Frontispiece_

Grandmamma's chair was still waiting to be decorated,
so the next hour was spent very happily. 67

'I do wonder why they are so late'. 82

A nice-looking oldish man came forward and bowed
respectfully to grandmamma. 126

It was the portrait of a young girl. 139

Up rushed two or three ... men, Cousin Cosmo the
first. 160

It was all uphill too. 173

CHAPTER I

WINDY GAP

My name is Helena, and I am fourteen past. I have two other Christian
names; one of them is rather queer. It is 'Naomi.' I don't mind having
it, as I am never called by it, but I don't sign it often because it is
such an odd name. My third name is not uncommon. It is just 'Charlotte.'
So my whole name is 'Helena Charlotte Naomi Wingfield.'

I have never been called by any short name, like 'Lena,' or 'Nellie.' I
think the reason must be that I am an only child. I have never had any
big brother to shout out 'Nell' all over the house, or dear baby sisters
who couldn't say 'Helena' properly. And what seems still sadder than
having no brothers or sisters, I have never had a mother that I could
remember. For mamma died when I was not much more than a year old, and
papa six months before that.

But my history has not been as sad as you might think from this. I was
very happy indeed when I was quite a little child. Till I was nine years
old I really did not know what troubles were, for I lived with
grandmamma, and she made up to me for everything I had not got: we loved
each other so very dearly.

I will tell you about our life.

Grandmamma was not at all the sort of person most children think of when
they hear of a grandmother in a story. She was not old, with white hair
and spectacles and always a shawl on, even in the house, an