Produced by Suzanne Shell, Laura Wisewell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: AND HERE, DAY AFTER DAY, HE SAT ALONE] THE GAY COCKADE BY TEMPLE BAILEY AUTHOR OF THE TRUMPETER SWAN, THE TIN SOLDIER, Etc. FRONTISPIECE BY C.E. CHAMBERS [Illustration] GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America COPYRIGHT 1921 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY [Illustration] Manufacturing Plant Camden, N.J. Made in U.S.A. The Gay Cockade For permission to reprint some of the stories in this volume, the author is indebted to the courtesy of the editors of _Harper's Magazine_, _Scribner's Magazine_, _Collier's Magazine_, _Ladies' Home Journal_, _Saturday Evening Post_, _Good Housekeeping_, and _Harper's Bazar_. Contents THE GAY COCKADE 7 THE HIDDEN LAND 33 WHITE BIRCHES 84 THE EMPEROR'S GHOST 118 THE RED CANDLE 132 RETURNED GOODS 149 BURNED TOAST 165 PETRONELLA 187 THE CANOPY BED 205 SANDWICH JANE 223 LADY CRUSOE 272 A REBELLIOUS GRANDMOTHER 310 WAIT--FOR PRINCE CHARMING 327 BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK 351 THE GAY COCKADE THE GAY COCKADE From the moment that Jimmie Harding came into the office, he created an atmosphere. We were a tired lot. Most of us had been in the government service for years, and had been ground fine in the mills of departmental monotony. But Jimmie was young, and he wore his youth like a gay cockade. He flaunted it in our faces, and because we were so tired of our dull and desiccated selves, we borrowed of him, remorselessly, color and brightness until, gradually, in the light of his reflected glory, we seemed a little younger, a little less tired, a little less petrified.