E-text prepared by David Edwards, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by the Google Books Library Project (https://books.google.com) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 56416-h.htm or 56416-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/56416/56416-h/56416-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/56416/56416-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through the Google Books Library Project. See https://books.google.com/books?id=XGAUAAAAYAAJ&hl=en Transcriber’s note: Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. JOHN BARING’S HOUSE * * * * * * BOOKS BY ELSIE SINGMASTER WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL GETTYSBURG KATY GAUMER EMMELINE THE LONG JOURNEY THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER JOHN BARING’S HOUSE BASIL EVERMAN ELLEN LEVIS BENNETT MALIN THE HIDDEN ROAD A BOY AT GETTYSBURG BRED IN THE BONE KELLER’S ANNA RUTH ‘SEWING SUSIE’ WHAT EVERYBODY WANTED VIRGINIA’S BANDIT YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK A LITTLE MONEY AHEAD THE YOUNG RAVENELS SWORDS OF STEEL THE MAGIC MIRROR THE LOVING HEART RIFLES FOR WASHINGTON * * * * * * [Illustration: ELIZABETH AND HERBERT] JOHN BARING’S HOUSE by ELSIE SINGMASTER [Illustration] Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press Cambridge Copyright, 1920, by Elsie Singmaster Lewars All Rights Reserved Including the Right to Reproduce This Book or Parts Thereof in Any Form TO JAMES ARTHUR SINGMASTER, JUNIOR Contents I. A NEW HOME 1 II. “WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH US?” 19 III. “I WILL NOT BELIEVE IT!” 38 IV. A JOURNEY IN VAIN 54 V. AN ALARMING MESSAGE 74 VI. ANOTHER VAIN JOURNEY 89 VII. “MAMMY’S BOY” 106 VIII. BLACK SMITH’S BARGAIN 123 IX. HERBERT PUTS TWO AND TWO TOGETHER 138 JOHN BARING’S HOUSE Chapter I A NEW HOME Sitting on the doorstep, Elizabeth Scott leaned her head against the stone wall of the old house. The June twilight was closing in and a hard day’s work was done. Three meals had been prepared and half of the large garden had been hoed and weeded. Feeling that their gardening knowledge was limited, Elizabeth and her brother made up by an excess of cultivation. A tall, slender boy came round the corner of the house and called “Elizabeth!” There was a dependent quality in his voice; one would have guessed that he was a good deal younger and a good deal less enterprising than the sister whom he addressed.