CONTENTS.
| I. | “THE ODD ONE,” | [9] |
| II. | GOING AWAY, | [28] |
| III. | THE CHALET IN THE HILLS, | [47] |
| IV. | THE LITTLE GOAT-HERD, | [65] |
| V. | COMRADES, | [84] |
| VI. | HERR ADLER, | [102] |
| VII. | HAPPY HOURS, | [124] |
| VIII. | A WONDERFUL WALK, | [148] |
| IX. | A STORY AND A FAREWELL, | [175] |
| X. | A MOUNTAIN STORM, | [204] |
| XI. | PLANS AND PROJECTS, | [221] |
| XII. | FAREWELLS, | [238] |
| XIII. | GOING HOME, | [256] |
| XIV. | CONCLUSION, | [272] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| “SQUIB FLUNG HIMSELF UPON THE DOG, AND THREW HIS ARMS ABOUT HIS NECK,” | [Frontispiece.] |
| “SQUIB LISTENED WITH A STRANGE SENSE OF FASCINATION,” | [68] |
| “BREATHLESSLY ONE BOY WORKED AND THE OTHER WATCHED,” | [94] |
| “DOWN, DOWN, DOWN—WITH A CRASH, AND A BANG, AND A ROAR!” | [169] |
| “SEPPI DREW SQUIB’S HAND DOWN UPON THE HEAD OF MOOR,” | [254] |
| “SQUIB’S BROTHERS AND SISTERS REJOICED OVER THE PRETTY GIFTS HE HAD BROUGHT THEM,” | [283] |
SQUIB AND HIS FRIENDS.
CHAPTER I.
“THE ODD ONE.”
That was the name Squib went by in the nursery and in the household—“the odd one.” Not exactly because of any personal peculiarities—although he had a few of these—but because he had no especial brother or sister belonging to him, and seemed to stand alone, whilst all the others could be paired off together.
Norman and Frank were big boys, away at school most of the year, near to each other in age, and always together in the holidays. Philippa and Molly came next, and were girls, devoted to each other and to their family of dolls, and even more devoted to the live dolls in the nursery—the little twin sisters, Hilda and Hulda, whom nobody knew apart save themselves and the nurse. But Squib had no brother or sister to be bracketed with him. The baby who came next in age to him had died in infancy, and was only a dim memory to the brother just above him in age. So he had always been, as it were, “the odd one” of the family, although his sisters were very fond of him, and never refused him a share in their games when he wanted to join in them.
But Squib did not care for dolls, and his tastes lay amongst things beyond the walls of nursery or schoolroom. He wanted always to be out of doors when not busy with his lessons for Mademoiselle (for so far he had not gone to school, but had been taught with his sisters in the schoolroom); and his pursuits were not of a kind to be attractive to the dainty little ladies, Philippa and Molly, or to find favour in the eyes of nurse, who reigned supreme over Hilda and Hulda. So Squib got into the way of amusing himself in his own fashion, and took his name of “the odd one” with great equanimity.