[Illustration: The figure standing close behind him scarcely breathed. _Frontispiece._ Page 192. ] Rena’s Experiment BY MARY J. HOLMES [Illustration: [Logo]] G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1901, 1904, BY MRS. MARY J. HOLMES. [_All rights reserved._] _Rena’s Experiment._ _Issued August, 1904._ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Nannie’s Well 9 II. The Farm-House 30 III. Rena’s Letter to Tom Giles 43 IV. Reginald and Tom 49 V. The Burdicks 67 VI. The First Evening 80 VII. The Call 94 VIII. Confidences and Communings 125 IX. Colin McPherson’s Call 136 X. The Dinner-Party 146 XI. Drifting 161 XII. Tom and Rena at the Well 171 XIII. Rex and Irene 185 XIV. Rex and Colin 198 XV. “Man Proposes, but God Disposes” 206 XVI. The Letter 217 XVII. Rex and Sam 225 XVIII. The Trained Nurse 234 XIX. Rex and Rena 243 XX. In the Sick-Room 261 XXI. Rex’s Experiment 272 XXII. Irene 288 XXIII. Conclusion 299 Rena’s Experiment CHAPTER I NANNIE’S WELL A tall, angular woman, wearing a sun-bonnet and a big work apron which nearly covered her short dress, stood on the fence calling, “Charlotte Ann! Charlotte Ann! Charlotte Ann Parks! Where be you? Don’t you know it’s ’most noon, and the table not set? and Miss Bennett’s very partic’lar about her digester; and there’s a letter from the two summer boarders who are coming!”