This etext was transcribed by Les Bowler [Picture: “I always keep my engagements”] A SUCCESSFUL VENTURE * * * * * BY ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND AUTHOR OF “MALVERN,” “OAKLEIGH,” ETC. * * * * * “Jog on, jog on the footpath way, And merrily hent the stile-a. A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a.” SHAKESPEARE * * * * * ILLUSTRATED BY ALICE BARBER STEPHENS [Picture: Decorative graphic] BOSTON W. A. WILDE & COMPANY 25 BROMFIELD STREET * * * * * COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY W. A. WILDE & COMPANY. _All rights reserved_. * * * * * A SUCCESSFUL VENTURE. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. MRS. WENTWORTH WARD VISITS GLEN ARDEN 9 II. THE STARRS HOLD A FAMILY COUNCIL 26 III. A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 44 IV. KATHERINE AS A FINANCIER 61 V. PETER SEEKS INFORMATION 81 VI. PETER’S NEW ACQUAINTANCES 99 VII. VICTORIA GOES IN SEARCH OF FUNDS 117 VIII. UNEXPECTED GENEROSITY 134 IX. SOPHY HAS AN ADVENTURE 153 X. THE NEW NEIGHBORS ON THE HILL 171 XI. VICTORIA DECIDES TO KEEP IT SECRET 188 XII. ROGER MADISON TELLS A STORY 206 XIII. PETER MEETS WITH A SERIOUS ACCIDENT 224 XIV. SOPHY WAYLAYS ROGER MADISON 242 XV. VICTORIA MEETS WITH DIFFICULTIES 261 XVI. MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS 281 XVII. ON THE RIVER 301 XVIII. MRS. WENTWORTH WARD CHANGES HER OPINION 320 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE “‘I always keep my engagements’” F’piece “The girls and Peter could see Katherine, who sat in the 79 hall below” “‘It is a gem’” 136 “There, beneath one of the old trees, she found a rustic 188 bench” “She found her eldest sister sitting on a rustic bench, 269 under the trees, with her work in her hands”