| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | How It Began to Open | [15] |
| II. | The Winner of the Torch Race | [25] |
| III. | An Adventure with Little Women | [45] |
| IV. | A Looking-Glass Visit | [61] |
| V. | A Tournament and a Rescue with Rowena | [83] |
| VI. | Afternoon Tea in Cranford | [107] |
| VII. | A Letter from Lorna | [125] |
| VIII. | Little Maid Marian | [145] |
| IX. | The Adventure in Guinevere’s Castle | [163] |
| X. | In the Hielands with Di Vernon | [185] |
| XI. | A Summer Day with Ramona | [203] |
| XII. | Romola and the Florentine Boy | [221] |
| XIII. | Little Nell and the Bun-Shop | [239] |
| XIV. | Evangeline and the Big Bear | [255] |
| XV. | The Little Quaker-City Maid | [273] |
ILLUSTRATIONS
| A demure little crowd they were, standing primly, hand in hand Frontispiece | |
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| Sappho passed her without a glance | [28] |
| They finally reached the cottage | [48] |
| “You see,” they both remarked confidentially, “we knew Alice, so of course we had to choose you” | [64] |
| “Room for the Lady Rowena, the Lady Rose, the Lady Ruth, and the noble Thane Cedric” | [86] |
| For there was Peter on the doctor’s horse, with Ruth mounted behind him | [110] |
| “Hush, Lorna. No one shall hurt them. But they must go from here at once. Two of my boys are saddling now” | [128] |
| “Greeting, sweet maid,” he said to Marian | [148] |
| The youth, dismounting, walked slowly toward Guinevere | [166] |
| “Rob Roy is frae the Hielands come, Down to the Lowland border” | [188] |
| The other, slender, youthful, in white, must be Ramona | [206] |
| “Father, here are the two friends I told you of,” said Romola | [224] |
| “Ladies,” said Dick Swiveller, “I will accept your kind, nay, your princely offer. Let us drink confusion in this tea—confusion to dire destiny” | [242] |
| So Gabriel climbed in between Ruth and Evangeline, and the little party hastened on toward the cape | [258] |
GIRLS IN BOOKLAND
CHAPTER I
How It Began to Open
Rose kneeled on the long window-seat and peered through the glass, occasionally rubbing away the mist that gathered so that she might the better watch the wild game the snow was playing. It was falling so thickly that the row of alfalfa haystacks resembled dim giants, advancing on the house stealthily but surely; the horse barn loomed darkly behind them and seemed enormous—a grim castle, or a dungeon. And how the snowflakes whirled and danced, never touching the ground, yet somehow turning it whiter and whiter. The prairie vanished in the whiteness, and even at a little distance the sky was all mixed up with it.
Every now and then Rose could hear a long, wild shriek that swept around the house and died away slowly. It was the wind, of course, but it certainly sounded like a cry for help, and Rose wondered if, after all, it might not be a princess in distress. One couldn’t be quite sure, and Marmie had said that very morning that it was always the most unexpected thing that happened.
“And a snow-storm,” thought Rose, “isn’t so unexpected as a princess.”
She turned her head and looked into the big pleasant room. The fireplace had a fine blaze in it, and lying on the Navajo blanket that covered the floor right before it, busily reading, was Rose’s younger sister, Ruth.
“Oh, Ruth, stop reading and come and look out. It’s getting blizzarder every minute.”