Produced by Leslee Suttie, Mary Mark Ockerbloom, and Ben Crowder THE STORY GIRL By L. M. Montgomery Author of “Anne of Green Gables,” “Anne of Avonlea,” “Kilmeny of the Orchard,” etc. With frontispiece and cover in colour by George Gibbs This book has been put on-line as part of the BUILD-A-BOOK Initiative at the Celebration of Women Writers through the combined work of Leslee Suttie and Mary Mark Ockerbloom. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ Reformatted by Ben Crowder “She was a form of life and light That seen, became a part of sight, And rose, where’er I turn’d mine eye, The morning-star of Memory!” --Byron. TO MY COUSIN Frederica E. Campbell IN REMEMBRANCE OF OLD DAYS, OLD DREAMS, AND OLD LAUGHTER CONTENTS I. The Home of Our Fathers II. A Queen of Hearts III. Legends of the Old Orchard IV. The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess V. Peter Goes to Church VI. The Mystery of Golden Milestone VII. How Betty Sherman Won a Husband VIII. A Tragedy of Childhood IX. Magic Seed X. A Daughter of Eve XI. The Story Girl Does Penance XII. The Blue Chest of Rachel Ward XIII. An Old Proverb With a New Meaning XIV. Forbidden Fruit XV. A Disobedient Brother XVI. The Ghostly Bell XVII. The Proof of the Pudding XVIII. How Kissing Was Discovered XIX. A Dread Prophecy XX. The Judgment Sunday XXI. Dreamers of Dreams XXII. The Dream Books XXIII. Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On XXIV. The Bewitchment of Pat XXV. A Cup of Failure XXVI. Peter Makes an Impression XXVII. The Ordeal of Bitter Apples XXVIII. The Tale of the Rainbow Bridge XXIX. The Shadow Feared of Man XXX. A Compound Letter XXXI. On the Edge of Light and Dark XXXII. The Opening of the Blue Chest THE STORY GIRL CHAPTER I. THE HOME OF OUR FATHERS “I do like a road, because you can be always wondering what is at the end of it.” The Story Girl said that once upon a time. Felix and I, on the May morning when we left Toronto for Prince Edward Island, had not then heard her say it, and, indeed, were but barely aware of the existence of such a person as the Story Girl. We did not know her at all under that name. We knew only that a cousin, Sara Stanley, whose mother, our Aunt Felicity, was dead, was living down on the Island with Uncle Roger and Aunt Olivia King, on a farm adjoining the old King homestead in Carlisle. We supposed we should get acquainted with her when we reached there, and we had an idea, from Aunt Olivia’s letters to father, that she would be quite a jolly creature. Further than that we did not think about her. We were more interested in Felicity and Cecily and Dan, who lived on the homestead and would therefore be our roofmates for a season.