Leaning over the edge of the porch she dropped the bundle soundlessly into a bed of marigolds. (Page 13)
BARBARA LADD
BY
CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS
AUTHOR OF
THE KINDRED OF THE WILD, THE HEART OF THE
ANCIENT WOOD, A SISTER TO EVANGELINE,
POEMS, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
FRANK VERBECK
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1902,
BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(Incorporated).
All Rights Reserved.
Published October, 1902
Eighth Impression, April, 1908.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"LEANING OVER THE EDGE OF THE PORCH SHE DROPPED THE BUNDLE
SOUNDLESSLY INTO A BED OF MARIGOLDS" (See page 13) . . . Frontispiece
"'WHAT A NICE-LOOKING BOY YOU ARE!' SHE SAID"
"'O MEHITABLE—DEMORALISED—BY BARBARA!' VOWED DOCTOR JOHN"
"HE SANK OFF AGAIN, FALLING BACK INTO BARBARA'S SUPPORTING ARMS"
BARBARA LADD
CHAPTER I.
She knew very well that she should have started earlier; but if therewas one thing that could daunt her wayward and daring little spirit, itwas the dark. Now, as she stood, wide-eyed and breathless withsuspense, beside her open window, the face of the dark began to change.A gray pallor came over it, and on a sudden she was aware of a blackhorizon line, ghostly, lonely beyond words, far to the eastward overthe yet invisible tree-tops. With this pallor came a chill whichBarbara felt on her little, trembling hands, on her eyes, and in herheart: as if the night, in going, had laid aside its benignity andtouched the world in farewell with a cold hand of warning and menace.Then, here and there a leaf stood out, palely distinct, upon the thickfrondage of the apple-tree whose nearest branches crowded the roof ofthe porch below her window. There was a faint chirping from the heartof the syringa thicket; and Barbara's ears were so attentive that shecaught the drowsy, awakening flutter of small wings d