Produced by Al Haines HAPPY HOUSE BY JANE D. ABBOTT AUTHOR OF "KEINETH" AND "LARKSPUR" GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS ---- NEW YORK Made in the United States of America COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY TO MARTHA THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE LETTER II. WEBB III. HAPPY HOUSE IV. AUNT MILLY V. BIRD'S-NEST VI. IN THE ORCHARD VII. AUNT MILLY'S STORY VIII. B'LINDY'S TRIUMPH IX. DAVY'S CLUB X. THE HIRED MAN XI. MOONSHINE AND FAIRIES XII. LIZ XIII. THE FOURTH OF JULY XIV. MRS. EATON CALLS XV. GUNS AND STRING BEANS XVI. PETER LENDS A HAND XVII. NANCY PLANS A PARTY XVIII. THE PARTY XIX. THE MASTER XX. A PICNIC XXI. DAVY'S GIFT XXII. REAL LEAVITTS AND OTHERS XXIII. WHAT THE CHIMNEY HELD XXIV. PETER XXV. NANCY'S CONFESSION XXVI. EUGENE STANDBRIDGE LEAVITT XXVII. ARCHIE EATON RETURNS XXVIII. A LETTER FROM THE MASTER XXIX. BARRY HAPPY HOUSE CHAPTER I THE LETTER Through the stillness of a drowsy June day broke the intoning of the library bell, chiming the hour. Three heads lifted quickly to listen. Three pairs of eyes met, the same thought flashed through three minds. "Won't we miss that bell, though? I've seen grads when they've come back stand perfectly still and listen to it with their eyes all weepy looking. That's the way we'll feel by and by," one of them said slowly. "And the chimes used to make me dreadfully homesick! Don't those frosh days seem ages ago?" The third girl slammed the lid of the trunk that occupied the centre of the disordered room. She crossed to the window. Over the stretch of green between the dormitory and the campus many people were slowly walking. Their fluffy dresses, their gay parasols, the aimlessness of their wandering steps marked them as visitors. The girl in the window frowned as she watched them. "I always hate it when the campus fills up with gawking, staring people! It ought to be kept--sacred--just for us!" One of the three laughed merrily in answer. "How selfish that sounds, Claire! Haven't all those people come to see one of us graduate? This is their day--ours is past." She stopped short. "Did you see Thelma King's sister at the class-day exercises? She's a _peach_! She's going to enter next fall. She's a leader in everything at the High where she goes. She'll make a good college girl; you could see the right spirit in her face. How I envy her! It's dreadful when you think of new ones--coming--taking our places! I wish I was just beginning my Freshman year--I'd even be willing to endure Freshman math." The third of the group who had been sitting on, the floor staring out over the tree tops with the dreamy gravity of one who--as long ago as yesterday--graduated from the great University, suddenly interrupted.