E-text prepared by Al Haines Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 22819-h.htm or 22819-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/8/1/22819/22819-h/22819-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/8/1/22819/22819-h.zip) ELSIE MARLEY by JOSLYN GRAY Author of "Kathleen's Probation" Illustrated [Frontispiece: Elsie . . . repeated the performance in a manner that was only the more captivating.] New York Charles Scribner's Sons Copyright, 1918, by Charles Scribner's Sons TO MARY BULLIONS GRAY ANDERSON ILLUSTRATIONS Elsie . . . repeated the performance in a manner that was only the more captivating . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ "Well, I mustn't stay here and keep you from 'redding' up your kitchen, as you call it" "You and I will do better with checks, Elsie, though Aunt Milly will have none of them," he remarked "Well, Elsie, we know the whole story now" ELSIE MARLEY, HONEY CHAPTER I Mrs. Bennet, her travelling companion from San Francisco, having proved to be talkative and uninteresting, Elsie Marley was more than content to find herself alone after the change had been made and her train pulled out of Chicago. It was characteristic of the girl that she did not even look out of the window to see the last of Mrs. Bennet, who, having waited on the platform until the train started and waved her handkerchief in vain, betook herself indignantly to her carriage. Quite unaware of any remissness on her part, Elsie settled herself comfortably--Mrs. Bennet had disposed of her luggage--folded her hands in her lap, and gazed idly out the window opposite. A pale, colorless girl, the simplicity of her dress was in almost too great contrast with its elegance--a contrived simplicity that left no room for any trace of careless youth or girlishness. Slender and rather delicate-looking, she had brown eyes, regular features, and soft, light-brown hair waving loosely about her face and hanging in two long, demure curls from a shell clasp at her neck. But her eyes were of rather a shallow brown, her brows and lashes still lighter; her features were almost too regular, and her skin, though soft and clear, was quite colorless. Even so, she might have been pretty, perhaps lovely, had she possessed any animation. But the girl's face and even her eyes were as nearly expressionless as human features may be. She was like a superior sort of doll with white cheeks in lieu of red.