Price, THE LEISURE HOUR LIBRARY. No. 67 Five Cents. F. M. LUPTON, Publisher, 23-37 City Hall Place, New York. Copyright, 1905 and 1906, by F. M. Lupton. THE WOOING OF LEOLA. BY MRS. ALEX. M’VEIGH MILLER. [Illustration: “ALL THE WHILE HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS OF LEOLA, LYING THERE LIKE A DEAD GIRL ON THE GROUND.”] THE WOOING OF LEOLA. BY MRS. ALEX. M’VEIGH MILLER. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. SOME PRETTY PICTURES. CHAPTER II. ALL FOR LOVE. CHAPTER III. ARE YOU AN ANGEL? CHAPTER IV. BEWARE OF JEALOUSY. CHAPTER V. A HONEY BEE AND A HONEY FLOWER. CHAPTER VI. LOVE’S ENTANGLEMENTS. CHAPTER VII. BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TO-MORROW. CHAPTER VIII. WINDING A WEB. CHAPTER IX. WHAT THE ROBINS HEARD. CHAPTER X. CHESTER OLYPHANT’S CURSE. CHAPTER XI. A TERRIBLE DEED. CHAPTER XII. A WAYSIDE FLOWER. CHAPTER XIII. IN THE SPIDER’S WEB. CHAPTER XIV. A LITTLE CONSPIRACY. CHAPTER XV. SURPRISES ALL AROUND. CHAPTER XVI. WIDOW GRAY AND THE YOUNG CAVE-HUNTERS. CHAPTER XVII. “TIME DOES NOT STOP FOR TEARS.” CHAPTER XVIII. “IF HATE COULD KILL.” CHAPTER XIX. LIKE A STAR IN THE NIGHT OF HER DESPAIR. CHAPTER XX. “ALL THE WORLD AND WE TWO, AND HEAVEN BE OUR STAY.” CHAPTER I. SOME PRETTY PICTURES. “Oh, mamma, I have had a lovely time at Mrs. Van Bibber’s! I would not have missed her reception for the world!” The blonde beauty threw herself, with a silken frou-frou of rich attire, back into a luxurious chair, clasped her white, jeweled hands, and rolled her large, bluebell eyes heavenward, practising the seraphic expression she found so effective with the men. She repeated, rapturously: “I would not have missed it for the world! Everything was on the grandest scale, and went off beautifully. I felt that it was worth all our scheming and planning for my lovely gown;” and she smiled, complacently, at her rich blue silk robe loaded with fine lace trimmings that set off so well her blue eyes and fluffy flaxen hair. “But, mamma,” she continued, “how sober you look. Is your rheumatism worse, poor dear?” The faded, elderly woman, with the careworn face and fretful mouth, clasped her thin, white hands nervously over her knee and answered, wearily: “My rheumatism is bad enough, but what worries me most is that I made such a mistake--pawning my diamonds for that splendid gown when you might have done better remaining at home without it!” “Mamma, what can you mean?” and Jessie Stirling frowned, impatiently, tearing a white rose to pieces with excited fingers. “I mean that, after all my sacrifices to get you ready for Mrs. Van Bibber’s reception, hoping you might meet Chester Olyphant there and make up your quarrel, he came here to call on you in your absence.” “And I missed him like that! Oh, what a shame! But who could have dreamed he would miss the reception? Still, mamma, you should have kept him till I returned. Oh, why did you let him get away?” queried the girl, angrily.