158
XI. THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER 178
XII. THE WEDDING 198
XIII. DREAMS AND WARNINGS 216
XIV. A SECOND MAID OF HONOR 241
XV. THE END OF THE HOUSE-PARTY 258
XVI. THE GOLDEN LEAF OF HONOR 275

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"LLOYD ... TOOK HER PLACE BESIDE THE HARP"
(_See page 68_) _Frontispiece_

"IT NEEDED NO SECOND GLANCE TO TELL HIM WHO SHE WAS" 20

"HE WAS LEANING FORWARD IN HIS CHAIR, TALKING TO JOYCE" 66

"A TALL, ATHLETIC FIGURE IN OUTING FLANNELS" 84

"A LONG-DRAWN 'O-O-OH' GREETED THE BEAUTIFUL TABLEAU" 132

"'ALL YOU GIRLS STANDING WITH YOUR HANDS STUCK THROUGH THE BARS'" 163

"'THEY STEPPED IN AND ROWED OFF DOWN THE SHINING WATERWAY'" 171

"'ONE, TWO, THREE--_THROW_!'" 253

THE LITTLE COLONEL,

MAID OF HONOR

CHAPTER I.

AT WARWICK HALL

It was mid-afternoon by the old sun-dial that marked the hours in
Warwick Hall garden; a sunny afternoon in May. The usual busy routine of
school work was going on inside the great Hall, but no whisper of it
disturbed the quiet of the sleepy old garden. At intervals the faint
clang of the call-bell, signalling a change of classes, floated through
the open windows, but no buzz of recitations reached the hedge-hidden
path where Betty Lewis sat writing.

The whole picturesque place seemed as still as the palace of the
Sleeping Beauty. Even the peacocks on the terraced river-front stood
motionless, their resplendent tails spread out in the sun; and although
the air was filled with the odor of wild plum blossoms, the breeze that
bore it through the arbor where Betty sat, absorbed in her work, was so
gentle that it scarcely stirred the vines around her.

With her elbows resting on the rustic table in front of her, and one
finger unconsciously twisting the lock of curly brown hair that strayed
over her ear, she sat pushing her pencil rapidly across the pages of her
note-book. At times she stopped to tap impatiently on the table, when
the word she wanted failed to come. Then she would sit looking through
half-closed eyes at the sun-dial, or let her dreamy gaze follow the lazy
windings of the river, w