Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Brenda's Bargain _A Story for Girls_ BY HELEN LEAH REED AUTHOR OF "BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB" "BRENDA'S SUMMER AT ROCKLEY," "BRENDA'S COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE" ILLUSTRATED BY ELLEN BERNARD THOMPSON BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1903 _Copyright, 1903,_ BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. _All rights reserved_ Published October, 1903 UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHN WILSON AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. [Illustration: But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside the broken glass] CONTENTS I. THE BROKEN VASE 1 II. A FAMILY COUNCIL 14 III. BRENDA AT THE MANSION 26 IV. AN EXPLORING TOUR 40 V. PHILIP'S LECTURE 51 VI. IN THE STUDIO 62 VII. IN DIFFICULTIES 73 VIII. THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE 86 IX. NORA'S WORK--AND POLLY 97 X. ARTHUR'S ABSENCE 107 XI. SEEDS OF JEALOUSY 120 XII. DOUBTS AND DUTIES 126 XIII. THE VALENTINE PARTY 139 XIV. CONCILIATION 147 XV. WAR AT HAND 158 XVI. THE ARTISTS' FESTIVAL 168 XVII. IDEAL HOMES 180 XVIII. WHERE HONOR CALLS 193 XIX. THEY STAND AND WAIT 204 XX. WEARY WAITING 215 XXI. AN OCTOBER WEDDING 227 XXII. THE WINNER 239 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "But what startled Brenda was the sight of a girl sunk in a heap beside the broken glass" _Frontispiece_ "Waiting for a car they had sat down on a wayside seat" 62 "'I think I hear some one coming upstairs'" 77 "They walked through the long galleries" 136 "She seemed to take but a languid interest in the world around her" 224 "Brenda had never looked so well" 235 BRENDA'S BARGAIN I THE BROKEN VASE