Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE DORRANCE DOMAIN _By_ CAROLYN WELLS _Illustrated by_ PELAGIE DOANE GROSSET & DUNLAP _Publishers_ NEW YORK _Copyright, 1905_, BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY, _All rights reserved_. The Dorrance Domain. Made in the United States of America [Illustration: "IF THAT'S THE DORRANCE DOMAIN, IT'S ALL RIGHT. WHAT DO YOU THINK, FAIRY?"] Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. COOPED UP 9 II. REBELLIOUS HEARTS 22 III. DOROTHY'S PLAN 35 IV. THE DEPARTURE 48 V. THE MAMIE MEAD 60 VI. THE DORRANCE DOMAIN 73 VII. MR. HICKOX 86 VIII. MRS. HICKOX 99 IX. THE FLOATING BRIDGE 112 X. THE HICKOXES AT HOME 124 XI. SIX INVITATIONS 137 XII. GUESTS FOR ALL 149 XIII. AN UNWELCOME LETTER 161 XIV. FINANCIAL PLANS 174 XV. A SUDDEN DETERMINATION 188 XVI. A DARING SCHEME 201 XVII. REGISTERED GUESTS 214 XVIII. AMBITIONS 226 XIX. THE VAN ARSDALE LADIES 239 XX. A REAL HOTEL 252 XXI. UPS AND DOWNS 265 XXII. TWO BOYS AND A BOAT 278 XXIII. AN UNWELCOME PROPOSITION 290 XXIV. DOROTHY'S REWARD 307 The Dorrance Domain CHAPTER I COOPED UP "I _wish_ we didn't have to live in a boarding-house!" said Dorothy Dorrance, flinging herself into an armchair, in her grandmother's room, one May afternoon, about six o'clock. She made this remark almost every afternoon, about six o'clock, whatever the month or the season, and as a rule, little attention was paid to it. But to-day her sister Lilian responded, in a sympathetic voice, "_I_ wish we didn't have to live in a boarding-house!" Whereupon Leicester, Lilian's twin brother, mimicking his sister's tones, dolefully repeated, "I wish _we_ didn't have to live in a boarding-house!" And then Fairy, the youngest Dorrance, and the last of the quartet, sighed forlornly, "I wish we didn't have to live in a _boarding-house_!" There was another occupant of the room. A gentle white-haired old lady, whose sweet face and dainty fragile figure had all the effects of an ivory miniature, or a painting on porcelain. "My dears," she said, "I'm sure I wish you didn't."