HOPE MILLS; OR, BETWEEN FRIEND AND SWEETHEART. BY AMANDA M. DOUGLAS, AUTHOR OF "FROM HAND TO MOUTH," "NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM," "IN TRUST," &C., &C. "Abou spake more low, But cheerly still; and said, 'I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.'" LEIGH HUNT. BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK: CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. THE DOUGLAS NOVELS. OSBORNE OF ARROCHAR. A MODERN ADAM AND EVE IN A GARDEN. THE FORTUNES OF THE FARADAYS. FOES OF HER HOUSEHOLD. A WOMAN'S INHERITANCE. CLAUDIA. FLOYD GRANDON'S HONOR. FROM HAND TO MOUTH. HOME NOOK. HOPE MILLS. IN TRUST. LOST IN A GREAT CITY. NELLIE KINNARD'S KINGDOM. OUT OF THE WRECK. SEVEN DAUGHTERS. STEPHEN DANE. SYDNIE ADRIANCE. THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE. WHOM KATHIE MARRIED. * * * * * PRICE PER VOL., $1.50. * * * * * LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. COPYRIGHT, 1879, BY LEE AND SHEPARD. _All rights reserved._ TO HON. MARCUS L. WARD, As a Tribute TO ONE WHO HAS HELD LOYALLY TO GOD AND HIS FELLOW-MEN, WHO HAS LABORED IN THE NOBLE CAUSE OF HUMANITY, NOT DISHEARTENED WHEN RESULTS WERE INFREQUENT, BUT CONTENT TO REAP THE REWARD IN THE GREAT HEREAFTER. BETWEEN FRIEND AND SWEETHEART. CHAPTER I. "THERE is Fred again with his arm around Jack Darcy's neck. I declare, they are worse than two romantic schoolgirls. I am so thankful Fred goes away to-morrow for a year! and I do hope by that time he will have outgrown that wretched, commonplace youth. Mother, it is very fortunate that Jack is the sole scion of the Darcy line; for, if there were a daughter, you would no doubt be called upon to receive her into the bosom of the family." "Which I never should do," remarked quiet, aristocratic Mrs. Lawrence, not even raising her eyes from her book. "Not for the sake of your only son?" continued Agatha, with an irritating laugh. "Don't be silly, Agatha," returned the mother, with an indifference that took off the point of the query. Her second sister glanced up from a bit of pencil-drawing, then lowered her eyes to the street where the boy friends stood, one with his arm over the other's shoulder. "Think of a Harvard graduate arm-in-arm with--well, a mill-hand! No doubt Jack's father will put him in the mill. I cannot see any sense in a boy of that class taking two years at the academy."