The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Princess in Calico, by Edith Ferguson
Black

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Title: A Princess in Calico

Author: Edith Ferguson Black

Release Date: December 26, 2008 [eBook #27630]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRINCESS IN CALICO***

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A PRINCESS IN CALICO

by

EDITH FERGUSON BLACK

Philadelphia
The Union Press
1122 Chestnut Street
1904

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. SLEEPY HOLLOW 7

II. A TEN-DOLLAR BILL 20

III. FAIRYLAND 30

IV. A NEW WORLD 42

V. PAULINE'S BIRTHRIGHT 54

VI. GIVING ONESELF 68

VII. A GREAT SURRENDER 78

VIII. IDEALISING THE REAL 90

IX. A LOST LETTER 103

X. THE ANGEL OF PATIENCE 117

XI. PURE GOLD 129

_Chapter I_

SLEEPY HOLLOW

She stood at her bedroom window before going downstairs to take up the
burden of a new day. She was just seventeen, but they did not keep any
account of anniversaries at Hickory Farm. The sun had given her a loving
glance as he lifted his bright old face above the horizon, but her
father was too busy and careworn to remember, and, since her mother had
gone away, there was no one else. She had read of the birthdays of other
girls, full of strange, sweet surprises, and tender thoughts--but those
were girls with mothers. A smile like a stray beam of sunshine drifted
over her troubled young face, at the thought of the second Mrs Harding
stopping for one instant in her round of ponderous toil to note the fact
that one of her family had reached another milestone in life's journey.
Certainly not on washing day, when every energy was absorbed in the
elimination of impurity from her household linen, and life looked
grotesque and hazy through clouds of soapy steam.

She heard her father now putting on