E-text prepared by Annie McGuire from scanned images of public domain material generously made available by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations in color. See 35093-h.htm or 35093-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/35093/pg35093-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35093/35093-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through the the Google Books Library Project. See http://books.google.com/books?vid=mtceAAAAMAAJ&id THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING [Illustration: AT SIGHT OF HER THE DOCTOR LEAPED FORWARD WITH A LOW CRY (p. 174)] THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING by ELEANOR H. PORTER Author of "Just David" [Illustration] Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company 1917 Copyright, 1917, by Eleanor H. Porter TO MY FRIEND _Miss Grace Wheeler_ CONTENTS I. FROSTED CAKES AND SHOTGUNS 1 II. AN ONLY SON 24 III. HONEYMOON DAYS 33 IV. NEST-BUILDING 43 V. THE WIPE 61 VI. THE HUSBAND 75 VII. STUMBLING-BLOCKS 82 VIII. DIVERGING WAYS 104 IX. A BOTTLE OF INK 125 X. BY ADVICE OF COUNSEL 155 XI. IN QUEST OF THE STARS 172 XII. THE TRAIL OF THE INK 182 XIII. A WOMAN'S WON'T 199 XIV. AN UNDERSTUDY 210 XV. A WOMAN'S WILL 225 XVI. EMERGENCIES 241 XVII. PINK TEAS TO FLIGHTY BLONDES 258 XVIII. A LITTLE BUNCH OF DIARIES 265 XIX. THE STAGE IS SET 284 XX. THE CURTAIN RISES 293 XXI. THE PLAY BEGINS 302 XXII. ACTOR AND AUDIENCE 314 XXIII. "THE PLOT THICKENS" 330 XXIV. COUNTER-PLOTS 339 XXV. ENIGMAS 348 XXVI. THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING 357 ILLUSTRATIONS