JARROLDS _Publishers_ LONDON _Limited, 10 and 11 Warwick Lane, E.C._
First Printed in 1910 Reprinted 1913 " 1915 " 1916 " 1917 " 1918 " 1919 " 1921 " 1923 " 1924 " 1925
_By the same author_: HARUM SCARUM HARUM SCARUM MARRIED
I. DO YOU REMEMBER? II. FIFTY THOUSAND A YEAR III. BEFORE THE FRAY IV. VERY EARLY V. PREPARATIONS VI. REAL SILVER VII. THE VISITORS ARRIVE VIII. A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW IX. A BARN DANCE X. THE PATH OF PERFECTION XI. THE NEW SECRETARY XII. AN UNDIGNIFIED SITUATION XIII. A BIG PILE XIV. THE FIRST-FRUITS XV. GENTLE AND SIMPLE XVI. UNEXPECTED NEWS XVII. STUCK IN A BOG XVIII. A GENEROUS COUSIN XIX. A REFUGE XX. SHAPING A ROMANCE XXI. PLAYING WITH FIRE XXII. FAILURE XXIII. TEN MINUTES XXIV. LEWIS' DECISION XXV. SHORT NOTICE XXVI. ANOTHER OFFER XXVII. A TERRIBLE SECRET XXVIII. LILIES AND A WEDDING XXIX. AN ANGRY LAWYER XXX. A FIERY ORDEAL XXXI. HOME AGAIN
Toney Whitburn pulled in her thorough-bred suddenly by a gap in the park and looked at her companion. The two had met by chance and they had had a canter together, so that the exercise had made the girl look radiant, and her hair, though twisted round her well-shaped head, rebelled at the restriction, and in protest curled itself round her temples and the nape of her neck.
"Do you know--I'm twenty-one to-morrow. Isn't it terrible?"
"Terrible!" answered the young Squire, Lewis Waycott, with a smile half of amusement and half of sympathy.
"You don't think so, but I do! You know I've honestly tried to become 'a young lady with expectations.' I've been to a finishing school at Paris, and I've tried to learn German at Dresden, and I've gone to sleep through ever so many concerts, and I've seen all the old things at Rome--and yet----"
"You haven't succeeded? You are just the same as you were, thank Heaven!"
"No, I've failed utterly, though, honest Injun, I have tried! Aunt Dove says so! She's always implying what a national misfortune it is that to-morrow I shall be my own mistress, but now, will you--you have always been awfully chummy--will you be the judge?"
"Yes. You know I offered to be her companion--and I meant it----"
"I try to because Pups always did-- Oh, if only he could just come to me now and say, 'Toney, you must'--no, he always said _we_ must--do this and that with our money."