MARJORIE IN COMMAND * * * * * [Illustration: MARJORIE WAS WORKING AWAY AT HER “BIRTHDAY CAKE.”] * * * * * MARJORIE IN COMMAND BY CAROLYN WELLS AUTHOR OF THE “PATTY” BOOKS [Illustration] GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America * * * * * COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY Published, September, 1910 * * * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A FAMILY CONFAB 1 II. A FLORAL WELCOME 15 III. THE LADY ARRIVES 27 IV. THE IDES OF MARCH 41 V. REMORSEFUL ROMANS 54 VI. LETTERS AND CARDS 68 VII. A JINKS PARTY 81 VIII. ROMPS AND RHYMES 95 IX. WILLING HELPERS 110 X. ON THE WAY HOME 121 XI. A FRIEND IN NEED 133 XII. THE HOUSE ON SPRUCE STREET 146 XIII. A BIRTHDAY PLAN 160 XIV. HENDERSON PALACE 174 XV. A FINE CELEBRATION 189 XVI. WINDOW BOXES 203 XVII. DELIGHTFUL ANTICIPATIONS 216 XVIII. THE ARBOR DAY FESTIVAL 230 XIX. THE CONTEST 244 XX. A SPRING RAMBLE 258 Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook. MARJORIE IN COMMAND CHAPTER I A FAMILY CONFAB “WELL,” said Marjorie, “I think it’s too perfectly, awfully, horribly dreadful for anything in all this world!” “I do, too,” agreed King. “It’s a calamity, and a catastrophe and a cat,—a cata—cataclysm!” “Of course it is,” said Kitty, who was philosophical. “But as it’s all settled, and we’ve got to live through it, we may as well make the best of it.”