BOSTON
DANA ESTES & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1898
By Dana Estes & Company
Colonial Press
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, U.S.A.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Present and Absent | [11] |
| II. | Domestic | [25] |
| III. | The Unexpected | [44] |
| IV. | The Trials of Margaret | [61] |
| V. | A New Type | [77] |
| VI. | A Lesson in Geography | [96] |
| VII. | The Dauntless Three | [114] |
| VIII. | The First Conquest | [129] |
| IX. | A Newcomer | [145] |
| X. | "I Must Help Myself" | [164] |
| XI. | The Second Conquest | [179] |
| XII. | The Voice of Fernley | [195] |
| XIII. | Who Did It? | [212] |
| XIV. | Black Spirits and White | [231] |
| XV. | A Departure | [249] |
| XVI. | Peace | [264] |
ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE | |
| Margaret Montfort | [Frontispiece] |
| "Afterwards she sallied out into the garden" | [63] |
| "'Did you bring a book to read to me, little girl?'" | [84] |
| "The little girl had never stirred, but stood gazing up at the big man who held her hands" | [120] |
| "Merton was teasing Chiquito" | [153] |
| "'Won't you come in?'" | [175] |
| A lively ghost | [247] |
| "The 'Flail of the Desert'" | [268] |