E-text prepared by David Garcia and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team from page images generously made available by the Kentuckiana Digital Library (http://kdl.kyvl.org/) Note: This version of _The Melting of Molly_ is the American novel publication and differs significantly from the British magazine publication, also in the Project Gutenberg library at https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15818 Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 15817-h.htm or 15817-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/1/15817/15817-h/15817-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/8/1/15817/15817-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through the Kentuckiana Digital Library. See http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc= kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B92-194-30611104&view=toc THE MELTING OF MOLLY by MARIA THOMPSON DAVIESS Author of Miss Selina Lue, The Road to Providence, Rose of Old Harpeth, etc., etc. Illustrated by R. M. Crosby Indianapolis The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers 1912 [Illustration: Melted] MOLLY CARTER AND I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO OUR GOOD FRIEND CAROL KING JENNEY LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF MOLLY Leaf First THE BACHELOR'S-BUTTONS Leaf Second A LOVE-LETTER, LOADED Leaf Third MONUMENT OR TROUSSEAU? Leaf Fourth SCATTERED JAM Leaf Fifth BLUE ABSINTHE Leaf Sixth THE RESURRECTION RAZOO Leaf Seventh DASHED! Leaf Eighth MELTED LEAF FIRST THE BACHELOR'S-BUTTONS Yes, I truly think that in all the world there is nothing so dead as a young widow's deceased husband, and God ought to give His wisest man-angel special charge concerning looking after her and the devil at the same time. They both need it! I don't know how all this is going to end and I wish my mind wasn't in a kind of tingle. However, I'll do the best I can and not hold myself at all responsible for myself, and then who will there be to blame? There are a great many kinds of good-feeling in this world, from radiant joy down to perfect bliss, but this spring I have got an attack of just old-fashioned happiness that looks as if it might become chronic.