[Illustration] IN THE GARDEN OF DELIGHT BY L. H. HAMMOND AUTHOR OF “THE MASTER-WORD,” “IN BLACK AND WHITE,” ETC. NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY To LUCY AND CALDWELL IN MEMORY OF THE WHEELED-CHAIR SUMMER AT PEN-Y-BRYN CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A COUNTRY CHILD 1 II. BIRD CORNERS 16 III. IN MAKE-BELIEVE 37 IV. THE DARK O’ THE YEAR 57 V. PREMONITIONS 81 VI. BEFORE THE DAWN 115 VII. SPRING MAGIC 126 VIII. BLACKBIRD DIPLOMACY 150 IX. THE PROOF OF COURAGE 169 X. THE ROUTING OF UNCLE JASON 186 XI. WHERE THE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT 204 XII. IN THE GARDEN OF DELIGHT 229 XIII. WHILE THE NEST WAS BUILDING 241 I A COUNTRY CHILD THERE is one thing, at least, in this puzzling world which, though everything changes it, nothing can spoil: and that is out-of-doors. Long ago, when this place was stately old Cedarhurst instead of home-y Bird Corners, and I a wilful small girl climbing trees and tearing my frocks whenever Great-aunt Virginia and Great-aunt Letitia were both looking the other way at the same time—a coincidence as blissful as it was infrequent—I thought being outdoors was heaven enough for anybody.