Produced by Darleen Dove, Ernest Schaal, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net CONCERNING BELINDA BOOKS BY ELEANOR HOYT BRAINERD "CONCERNING BELINDA" "NANCY'S COUNTRY CHRISTMAS AND OTHER STORIES" "THE MISDEMEANORS OF NANCY" [Illustration: "A gay, dimpling girl and a stalwart, handsome man were whirling down Fifth Avenue"] CONCERNING BELINDA BY ELEANOR HOYT BRAINERD ILLUSTRATED BY HARRISON FISHER AND KATHARINE N. RICHARDSON [Illustration] NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1905 Copyright, 1904, 1905, by The Curtis Publishing Company Copyright, 1905, by Doubleday, Page & Company Published, September, 1905 _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian._ [Illustration] AN APOLOGY To all principals of New York boarding-schools, the author of these sketches offers humble apologies for having approached those excellent institutions chiefly from their humorous side. That the city boarding-school has its earnest and serious phases, its charming and sensible pupils, no rational mortal could deny; but each finishing school has, also, its Amelias, and their youthful absurdities offer tempting material to the writer of tales. [Illustration] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Belinda and the Twelve 3 II. The Musical Romance of Amelia 27 III. The Elopement of Evangeline Marie 43 IV. A Wolf in the Fold 59 V. The Black Sheep's Christmas 81 VI. The Blighted Being 99 VII. The Passing of an Affinity 117 VIII. The Queer Little Thing 135 IX. A Continuous Performance 157 X. Adelina and the Drama 177 [Illustration] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS