Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: "'Come, George--you need a good tramp,' Stuart urged at Jeannette's elbow"] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UNDER THE COUNTRY SKY By GRACE S. RICHMOND Author of "Red Pepper Burns," "Mrs. Red Pepper," "The Twenty-Fourth of June," "The Second Violin," Etc. With Frontispiece in Colors By FRANCES ROGERS A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Published by Arrangements with DOUBLEDAY, PAGE AND COMPANY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1916, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Heart Burnings 3 II. Something Really Happens 15 III. A Semi-Annual Occurrence 31 IV. A Literary Light 39 V. Shabbiness 50 VI. When Royalty Comes 60 VII. Snowballs 71 VIII. Soapsuds 84 IX. A Reasonable Proposition 96 X. Stuart Objects 105 XI. Borrowed Plumes 119 XII. Early Morning 135 XIII. A Copyist 143 XIV. Out of the Blue 153 XV. "Great Luck!" 164 XVI. A Little Trunk 176 XVII. Reaction 187 XVIII. "Steady On!" 199 XIX. Revelations 212 XX. Five Minutes 228 XXI. Messages 236 XXII. Toasts 248 XXIII. Why Not? 259 XXIV. Magic Gold 270 XXV. Great Music 283 XXVI. Salt Water 295 XXVII. "Cakes and Ices" 310 XXVIII. A Tanned Hercules 323 XXIX. Milestones 332 XXX. Questions and Answers 342 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER I HEART BURNINGS She did not want to hate the girls; indeed, since she loved them all, it would go particularly hard with her if she had to hate them; love turned to hate is such a virulent product! But, certainly, she had never found it so hard to be patient with them.