Produced by Jeannie Howse, Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net A MELODY IN SILVER By KEENE ABBOTT BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1911 COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY KEENE ABBOTT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published April 1911_ CONTENTS I. THE LOST CAUSE 1 II. RUE AND ROSEMARY 14 III. THE WORLD'S END 20 IV. DEAD SEA FRUIT 30 V. THE MUG OF WOE 43 VI. "FAV-VER" 52 VII. AS A FOUNTAIN IN THE DESERT 66 VIII. THE GONE-AWAY LADY 75 IX. THE CRIME OF DAVID 86 X. THE NIP OF GUILT 97 XI. APOTHEOSIS 104 XII. LIGHT 113 XIII. THE SUBSTITUTE 125 XIV. SKY BLOSSOMS 142 A MELODY IN SILVER CHAPTER I THE LOST CAUSE David had a suspicion. He did not know it was that, but that is what it was. He suspected that Mother thought he was a good little boy, and he suspected that she thought Mitchell Horrigan was a bad little boy. Perhaps Mother had a suspicion, too; she might have suspected that it was Mitch who had put a certain notion into David's head--a notion which had to do with pants. Only you must not call them pants; they are "trouvers." But it doesn't really matter in the least what they are called. Mitch had them. He also had the measles once. David did not know whether it was the measles part or the pants part that made Mitch a bad little boy. All David knew about it was that if he invited Mitch into the yard to climb trees and give swimming lessons in the high grass, it usually happened that Mother could think of some important business for her little boy to do in the house. It was surprising how many important matters there were for David to do in the house every time Mitch came into the yard to play. She might want to show him something, and perhaps it would be a turn-over that she wanted to show him, a delicious little half-grown pie stuffed with strawberries or with cherries.