By
Archibald Marshall
Author of
"Elton Manor," "The Squire's Daughter,"
"The Eldest Son," etc.
New York
Dodd, Mead and Company
1919
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
To
ARTHUR MARWOOD
CONTENTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER
I A Home-Coming
II A Vulgar Theft
III The Squire Is Drawn In
IV Joan Gives Her Evidence
V A Quiet Talk
VI The Young Birds
VII The Verdict
BOOK II
I Bobby Trench Is Asked to Kencote
II Joan and Nancy
III Humphrey and Susan
IV Coming Home from the Ball
V Robert Recumbent
VI Joan Rebellious
VII Disappointments
VIII Proposals
BOOK III
I The Squire Confronted
II A Very Present Help
III The Burden
IV This Our Sister
BOOK IV
I A Return
II Payment
III The Straight Path
IV A Conclave
V Waiting
VI The Power of the Storm
VII Thinking It Out
VIII Skies Clearing
IX Skies Clear
The lilacs in the station-yard at Kencote were heavy with their trussesof white and purple; the rich pastures that stretched away on eitherside of the line were yellow with buttercups.
Out of the smiling peace of the country-side came puffing the busylittle branch-line train. It came to and fro half a dozen times a day,making a rare contact between the outside world and this sunny placidcorner of meadow and brook and woodland. Here all life that one couldsee was so quiet and so contented that the train seemed to lose itscharacter as it crept across the bright levels, and to be less a noisydetermined machine of progress than a trail of white steam, floatingout over the grazing cattle and the willows by the brookside, as muchin keeping with the scene as the wisps of cloud that made delicate theblue of the fresh spring sky.
The white cloud detached itself from the engine and melted away intothe sky, and the