[Illustration] [Illustration: _Barbara Wallace_ From a painting by A. O. Scott] The Morning Glory Club By George A. Kyle With a frontispiece in colours By Arthur O. Scott [Illustration] Boston * L.C. Page and Company * MDCCCCVII _Copyright, 1907_ BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) _All rights reserved_ Entered at Stationers' Hall, London _First impression, February, 1907_ _COLONIAL PRESS_ _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. Boston, U. S. A._ Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. THE WHEELS BEGIN TO MOVE 1 II. A MAN AND A WOMAN 33 III. A MALE GOSSIP 43 IV. THE "GLORIES" MEET AGAIN 50 V. THE STOUTS AT HOME 60 VI. BARBARA AND WILL 70 VII. CLASSICS AND WOMEN 75 VIII. A WOMAN'S WAY 87 IX. MEN TALK TOO 92 X. A REHEARSAL 103 XI. THE NARROW WAY 116 XII. GIRL TALK 124 XIII. JINGLE BELLS 129 XIV. MORE TALK 134 XV. TWO LETTERS 144 XVI. ADVERTISING 148 XVII. MORE ADVERTISING 157 XVIII. THE "BIG SHOW" 164 XIX. THE DAY AFTER 171 XX. A SERMON 186 XXI. AN ANGEL OF MERCY 201 XXII. MANY MINDS CHANGE 212 XXIII. COALS OF FIRE 224 XXIV. A WEDDING AND A SERMON 235 XXV. GOOD CHEER--GOOD WILL 244 The Morning Glory Club Chapter I The Wheels Begin to Move "EZRA, this is a morning long to be remembered," said Mrs. Tweedie, as she looked up from the undulating top of a huge cake which, with the skill of a professional plasterer, she was bedaubing with a dark brown paste. "I hope so, my dear," her husband replied, smilingly, as he put his paper aside. "Sometime this house may bear a tablet of bronze," continued Mrs. Tweedie, "on which, in effect, will be graven that here was founded by the women of Manville an organization that startled the community." "My only regret is that I shall not be here to see it--I mean the tablet, of course," said Ezra. "We shall prove," Mrs. Tweedie went on with her eyes fixed dreamily on a distant corner of the kitchen, "we shall prove that the accusation which you made in anger one week ago to-night, that 'women are the cause of all of the trouble in the world,' is false! False as the affection of men!" Ezra's smile faded to a look that suggested a complication of homesickness and _mal de mer_. The incident to which Mrs. Tweedie referred was not their first quarrel. The first had taken place years before, and ever since Ezra had been different.