Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG Distributed Proofreaders A FAIR BARBARIAN BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT 1881 CONTENTS CHAPTER I. MISS OCTAVIA BASSETT II. "AN INVESTMENT, ANYWAY" III. L'ARGENTVILLE IV. LADY THEOBALD V. LUCIA VI. ACCIDENTAL VII. "I SHOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE OF SLOWBRIDGE" VIII. SHARES LOOKING UP IX. WHITE MUSLIN X. ANNOUNCING MR. BAROLD XI. A SLIGHT INDISCRETION XII. AN INVITATION XIII. INTENTIONS XIV. A CLERICAL VISIT XV. SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES XVI. CROQUET XVII. ADVANTAGES XVIII. CONTRAST XIX. AN EXPERIMENT XX. PECULIAR TO NEVADA XXI. LORD LANSDOWNE XXII. "YOU HAVE MADE IT LIVELIER" XXIII. "MAY I GO?" XXIV. THE GARDEN PARTY XXV. "SOMEBODY ELSE" XXVI. "JACK" A FAIR BARBARIAN. CHAPTER I. MISS OCTAVIA BASSETT. Slowbridge had been shaken to its foundations. It may as well be explained, however, at the outset, that it would not take much of a sensation to give Slowbridge a great shock. In the first place, Slowbridge was not used to sensations, and was used to going on the even and respectable tenor of its way, regarding the outside world with private distrust, if not with open disfavor. The new mills had been a trial to Slowbridge,--a sore trial. On being told of the owners' plan of building them, old Lady Theobald, who was the corner-stone of the social edifice of Slowbridge, was said, by a spectator, to have turned deathly pale with rage; and, on the first day of their being opened in working order, she had taken to her bed, and remained shut up in her darkened room for a week, refusing to see anybody, and even going so far as to send a scathing message to the curate of St. James, who called in fear and trembling, because he was afraid to stay away.