Produced by Rick Niles, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE BRIMMING CUP _Dorothy Canfield_ HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY NEW YORK 1919 _By the same author_ THE SQUIRREL-CAGE A MONTESSORI MOTHER MOTHERS AND CHILDREN HILLSBORO PEOPLE THE BENT TWIG THE REAL MOTIVE FELLOW CAPTAINS (_With Sarah N. Cleghorn_) UNDERSTOOD BETSY HOME FIRES IN FRANCE THE DAY OF GLORY THE BRIMMING CUP ROUGH-HEWN RAW MATERIAL THE HOME-MAKER MADE-TO-ORDER STORIES HER SON'S WIFE WHY STOP LEARNING? THE DEEPENING STREAM BASQUE PEOPLE FABLES FOR PARENTS SEASONED TIMBER CONTENTS CHAPTER Page I. PRELUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 II. INTERLUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 _PART ONE_ III. OLD MR. WELLES AND YOUNG MR. MARSH. 29 IV. TABLE TALK. . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 V. A LITTLE GIRL AND HER MOTHER. . . . 64 VI. THINGS TAKE THEIR COURSE. . . . . . 80 VII. THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS . . . . . 91 VIII. WHAT GOES ON INSIDE . . . . . . . . 115 IX. THE GENT AROUND THE LADY. . . . . . 130 X. AT THE MILL . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 _PART TWO_ XI. IN AUNT HETTY'S GARDEN. . . . . . . 179 XII. HEARD FROM THE STUDY. . . . . . . . 199 XIII. ALONG THE EAGLE ROCK BROOK. . . . . 215 XIV. BESIDE THE ONION-BED. . . . . . . . 224 XV. HOME-LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 XVI. MASSAGE-CREAM; THEME AND VARIATIONS 256 XVII. THE SOUL OF NELLY POWERS. . . . . . 266 _PART THREE_ XVIII. BEFORE THE DAWN . . . . . . . . . . 279 XIX. MR. WELLES LIGHTS THE FUSE. . . . . 285 XX. A PRIMAEVAL HERITAGE. . . . . . . . 294 XXI. THE COUNSEL OF THE STARS. . . . . . 302 XXII. EUGENIA DOES WHAT SHE CAN . . . . . 309 XXIII. MARISE LOOKS DOWN ON THE STARS. . . 323 _PART FOUR_ XXIV. NEALE'S RETURN. . . . . . . . . . . 331 XXV. MARISE'S COMING-OF-AGE. . . . . . . 338 XXVI. MARISE LOOKS AND SEES WHAT IS THERE 360 XXVII. THE FALL OF THE BIG PINE. . . . . . 367 XXVIII. TWO GOOD-BYES . . . . . . . . . . . 380 XXIX. VIGNETTES FROM HOME-LIFE. . . . . . 390 THE BRIMMING CUP CHAPTER I _PRELUDE_ SUNSET ON ROCCA DI PAPA _An Hour in the Life of Two Modern Young People_ April, 1909. Lounging idly in the deserted little waiting-room was the usual shabby, bored, lonely ticket-seller, prodigiously indifferent to the grave beauty of the scene before him and to the throng of ancient memories jostling him where he stood. Without troubling to look at his watch, he informed the two young foreigners that they had a long hour to wait before the cable-railway would send a car down to the Campagna. His lazy nonchalance was faintly colored with the satisfaction, common to his profession, in the discomfiture of travelers.