E-text prepared by David Garcia and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team from page images generously made available by the Kentuckiana Digital Library (http://kdl.kyvl.org/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 15093-h.htm or 15093-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/0/9/15093/15093-h/15093-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/0/9/15093/15093-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through the Kentuckiana Digital Library Electronic Text Collection. See http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?;page=simpleext PHYLLIS by MARIA THOMPSON DAVIESS Author of _The Tinder Box_, _The Melting of Molly_, etc. With Illustrations by Percy D. Johnson New York The Century Co. 1914 [Illustration: Down that garden path I flew] TO HELENA RUTH KETCHAM LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Down that garden path I flew (Frontispiece) Then Roxanne and the bottle and I all collapsed on the grass together He stood there in the doorway and laughed until his big shoulders shook I never saw my father's face so lovely Tony ... nosed almost every inch of the shed He just moaned he was making an explosion The Colonel handed me the medal "You stand right here and tell me how it all looks" CHAPTER I The country is so much larger than the city and so empty that you rattle around in it until you wonder if you are ever going to get stuck to any place, especially if there isn't a house numbered anywhere. Our street is named Providence Road and the house Byrd Mansion and I am afraid I'll never be at home there as long as I live. But the doctor says Mother has to live in the country for always, and I'm only glad it isn't any countrier than Byrdsville. The worst thing about it to me is that this house I live in and the town I live in are named for the lovely dark-eyed girl who lives down in the old-fashioned cottage that backs up on our garden. She moved out for me to move in, just because I am rich and she is poor. I can't look at her straight, but I love her so that I can hardly stand it. All the other girls in school love her too, and she is not at all afraid of the boys, but treats them just as if they were human beings and could be loved as such. That awful long-legged Tony walks home with her almost every day and they all laugh and have a good time. I always wait until everybody has gone down the street with everybody else so they won't see how lonesome I am. Crowded lonesomeness is the worst of all. There are many nice boys and girls just about my age here in Byrdsville; but they can never like me. I'm glad I found it out before I tried to be friends with any of them. The first day I came to the Byrd Academy I heard Belle tell Mamie Sue how to treat me, and that is what settled me into this alone state.