Rose O'Paradise
VIRGINA LEFT THE FARMHOUSE, CARRYING HER FIDDLE AND THE PAIL OF CATS, AND THE BLIZZARD SWALLOWED HER UP.
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY THE H. K. FLY COMPANY
I lovingly dedicate this book to Rose and Will Scott
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On a hill, reared back from a northern lake, stood a weather-beaten farmhouse, creaking in a heavy winter blizzard. It was an old-fashioned, many-pillared structure. The earmarks of hard winters and the fierce suns of summer were upon it. From the main road it was scarcely discernible, settled, as it was, behind a row of pine trees, which in the night wind beat and tossed mournfully.
In the front room, which faced the porch, sat a man,—a tall, thin man, with straight, long jaws, and heavy overhanging brows. With moody eyes he was staring into the grate fire, a fearful expression upon his face.
He straightened his shoulders, got up, and paced the floor back and forth, stopping now and then to listen expectantly. Then again he seated himself to wait. Several times, passionately insistent, he shook his head, and it was as if the refusal were being made to an invisible presence. Suddenly he lifted his face as the sound of a weird, wild wail was borne to him, mingling with the elf-like moaning of the wind. He leaned forward slightly, listening intently. From somewhere above him pleading notes from a violin were making the night even more mournful. A change came over the thin face. 10
“My God!” he exclaimed aloud. “Who’s playing like that?”
He crossed the room and jerked the bell-rope roughly. In a few moments the head of a middle-aged colored woman appeared at the door.
“Did you tell my daughter I wanted to see her?” questioned the man.
Grace Miller White
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CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
ROSE O’ PARADISE
CHAPTER I
FATHER AND DAUGHTER
CHAPTER II
A WHITE PRESENCE
CHAPTER III
JINNIE’S FAREWELL TO MOLLY THE MERRY
CHAPTER IV
JINNIE TRAVELS
CHAPTER V
LIKE UNTO LIKE ATTRACTED
CHAPTER VI
PEG’S BARK
CHAPTER VII
JUST A JEW
CHAPTER VIII
“EVERY HAND SHALL DO ITS SHARE,” QUOTH PEG.
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
ON THE BROAD BOSOM OF THE “HAPPY IN SPITE”
CHAPTER XI
WHAT HAPPENED TO JINNIE
CHAPTER XII
WATCHING
CHAPTER XIII
WHAT JINNIE FOUND ON THE HILL
CHAPTER XIV
“HE’S COME TO LIVE WITH US, PEGGY”
CHAPTER XV
“WHO SAYS THE KID CAN’T STAY?”
CHAPTER XVI
JINNIE’S EAR GETS A TWEAK
CHAPTER XVII
JINNIE DISCOVERS HER KING’S THRONE
CHAPTER XVIII
RED ROSES AND YELLOW
CHAPTER XIX
THE LITTLE FIDDLER
CHAPTER XX
THE COBBLER’S SECRET
CHAPTER XXI
THE COMING OF THE ANGELS
CHAPTER XXII
MOLLY’S DISCOVERY
CHAPTER XXIII
NOBODY’S CAT
CHAPTER XXIV
“HE MIGHT EVEN MARRY HER”
CHAPTER XXV
WHEN THEODORE FORGOT
CHAPTER XXVI
MOLLY ASKS TO BE FORGIVEN
CHAPTER XXVII
“HAVEN’T YOU ANY SOUL?”
CHAPTER XXVIII
JINNIE DECIDES AGAINST THEODORE
CHAPTER XXIX
PEG’S VISIT
CHAPTER XXX
WHAT THE FIDDLE TOLD THEODORE
CHAPTER XXXI
WHAT THEODORE TOLD HIS FRIEND
CHAPTER XXXII
JORDAN MORSE’S PLAN
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE MURDER
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE COBBLER’S ARREST
CHAPTER XXXV
ALONE IN THE SHOP
CHAPTER XXXVI
JINNIE EXPLAINS THE DEATH CHAIR TO BOBBIE
CHAPTER XXXVII
WHAT THE THUNDER STORM BROUGHT
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE STORY OF A BIRD
CHAPTER XXXIX
JINNIE’S VISIT TO THEODORE
CHAPTER XL
AN APPEAL TO JINNIE’S HEART
CHAPTER XLI
JINNIE’S PLEA
CHAPTER XLII
BOBBIE TAKES A TRIP
CHAPTER XLIII
THEODORE SENDS FOR MOLLY
CHAPTER XLIV
MOLLY GIVES AN ORDER TO JINNIE
CHAPTER XLV
WRITING A LETTER TO THEODORE
CHAPTER XLVI
“BUST ’EM OUT”
CHAPTER XLVII
BOBBIE’S STARS RENEW THEIR SHINING
CHAPTER XLVIII
FOR BOBBIE’S SAKE
CHAPTER XLIX
BACK HOME
CHAPTER L
“GOD MADE YOU MINE”