FOREWORD.
Those who have followed the story of Dorothy Calvert’s life thus far will remember that it has been full of interest and many adventures—pleasant and otherwise. Beginning as a foundling left upon the steps of a little house in Brown street, Baltimore, she was adopted by its childless owners, a letter-carrier and his wife. When his health failed she removed with them to the Highlands of the Hudson. There followed her “Schooling” at a fashionable academy; her vacation [“Travels”] in beautiful Nova Scotia; her [“House Party”] at the home of her newly discovered great aunt, Mrs. Betty Calvert; their winter together “In California”; a wonderful summer [“On a Ranch”] in Colorado; and now the early autumn has found the old lady and the girl once more in the ancestral home of the Calverts. Enjoying their morning’s mail in the pleasant library of old Bellvieu, they are both astonished by the contents of one letter which offers for Dorothy’s acceptance the magnificent gift of a “House-Boat.” What follows the receipt of this letter is now to be told.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| Foreword | [9] | |
| I. | A Big Gift for a Small Maid | [11] |
| II. | Invitations To a Cruise of Loving Kindness | [25] |
| III. | The Difficulties of Getting Under Way | [44] |
| IV. | Matters Are Settled | [62] |
| V. | The Storm and What Followed | [76] |
| VI. | A Mule and Melon Transaction | [92] |
| VII. | Visitors | [105] |
| VIII. | The Colonel’s Revelation | [121] |
| IX. | Fish and Monkeys | [138] |
| X. | A Mere Anne Arundel Gust | [154] |
| XI. | A Morning Call of Monkeys | [165] |
| XII. | Under the Persimmon Tree | [180] |
| XIII. | What Lay Under the Walking Fern | [195] |
| XIV. | The Redemption of a Promise | [213] |
| XV. | In the Heart of an Ancient Wood | [229] |
| XVI. | When the Monkeys’ Cage Was Cleaned | [243] |
| XVII. | Conclusion | [254] |