Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 48363-h.htm or 48363-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48363/48363-h/48363-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48363/48363-h.zip) THE LITTLE GREY HOUSE * * * * * * OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR [Illustration: decoration] _Loyal Blue and Royal Scarlet_ _The Wyndham Girls_ _Miss Lochinvar_ * * * * * * [Illustration: _So the mowing began, Prue preceding._] THE LITTLE GREY HOUSE by MARION AMES TAGGART [Illustration: logo] Frontispiece by Ethel Franklin Betts New York McClure, Phillips & Co. MCMIV Copyright, 1904, by McClure, Phillips & Co. Published, October, 1904 TO ANNA WENTWORTH HECKER CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. ITS CHILDREN 3 II. ITS NEIGHBORS 17 III. ITS MASTER 33 IV. ITS RELATIVES 48 V. ITS BLITHE DAYS 64 VI. ITS HARD DAYS 80 VII. ITS MENACE 98 VIII. ITS MAKESHIFTS 115 IX. ITS BURDEN 132 X. ITS POSSIBILITIES 149 XI. ITS HOPE 166 XII. ITS TRAGIC SIDE 181 XIII. ITS DANGER 196 XIV. ITS BRAVE DAUGHTER 208 XV. ITS RESCUE 224 XVI. ITS LIBERATION 240 XVII. ITS SUNSHINE 254 THE LITTLE GREY HOUSE CHAPTER ONE ITS CHILDREN "I am going to cut that grass--try to cut it, I mean--before I'm an hour older," said Roberta Grey, drawing on an old pair of her father's dog-skin gloves with a do-or-die-in-the-attempt air that was at once inspiring and convincing. "This whole place looks like an illustrated edition of 'How Plants Grow'--Grey. We've got to cut the grass or put up a sign: To Find the House Walk Northward Through the Prairie. Signed, Sylvester Grey. Will you help, Wythie and Prue?"