The Little Colonel's House Party

ay that morning, filled with the breath of the locusts; white overhead where the giant trees locked branches to make an arch of bloo

ing, and every visitor to the Valley was taken past the great entrance gate to admire the long rows of stately old tree

led attention to him because he was an old Confederate soldier who had given his good right arm to the cause he loved, some because

irst came to the Valley was a distinction of which any man might well be proud, and Colonel Lloyd was proud of it. He was proud of the fact that she had inherited his lordly manner, his hot temper, and imperious ways. It pleased him that people had given her his title of Colonel on account of the resemblance to himself. She had ou

pped branches above would nod to each other as if they understood. "Yes-s, yes-s," they whispered in the soft lisping language of the leaves, "

r. Into the cockade she had stuck a spray of locust blossoms, and as she rode slowly along she fastened a bunch of them behind each ear of her pony, whose coat was as s

tin' aftah I've been to the post-office and mailed these lettahs. You didn't know that Judge Moore's place is open for the summah, did you, and that

a bridle-path on the other. Two minutes' brisk canter brought her to another gate, one that had been closed all winter, and one that she was greatly interes

it was so still everywhere that all she saw was the squirrels playing hide and seek in the beech-grove around the house, and all she heard was the fearless cry, "Pewee! pewee!

our in her cheek like the delicate pink of a wild rose, and the big hazel eyes had a roguish twinkle in them, as th

onel, "and there isn't time to go in befo' we've been t

ng toward her as fast as his big gray horse could carry him. He was riding bareback, straight and lithe as a young Indian, his cap pushed to the back

alled, "I was just g

d, as informally as if it were only yesterday t

post-office with me. I

't know how good it feels to get back to the country again, Lloyd. I could hardly wait for school to close, when I'd think about the fish waiting for me out here in

c lessons, and good times in the evenin'

asting curious glances at her. "What have you been doing to yourself, Lloyd Sherman?" he demanded, finally. "You look so-so differe

papa Jack would let me have it done; but it was so long,-away below my wai

" said Rob, with the frankness of old comradeship.

, and grandfathah likes it. He says he's got his Little Colonel back again now, and he se

easingly. "What do you think you are now, miss

have in June, do you!" she cried, every trace of displeasure vanishing at the thought. "Grandfathah and papa Jack are goin' away fo' a month to some mineral springs in Va'ginia, and I'm to have my house pahty in June to keep mothah and me from bein' lonesome. It will not be a very big one, only three girls to spend June with me, but mothah says w

answered more politely, "Thank you, Lloyd, you can count on me for my part.

e was carrying, and let him see the first add

ugenia

ldorf-

York

he?" he asked,

t. I was five then and she was seven, so she must be neahly thirteen yeahs old now. When we played togethah she would scream and scream if I didn't give up to her in everything, and as I had a bad

ith a grin. He had experimented with

dn't want mothah to invite her, but she said she felt that we ought to. Eugenia's mothah is dead. She died three yeahs ago, and since then she's been kept in a boa'din' school most of the time. When she's not away at school she stays in some big hotel with her fathah, eithah in New York or at some summah resort.

id Rob, with a sour grimace. "Who is your nu

Joyce

nsvi

ns

oah children youngah than Joyce. But Joyce has had lots of things that neithah Eugenia nor I have had. Last yeah her cousin Kate took her abroad with her, and she studied French, and she had lots of beautiful times where they spent the wintah in France. Mrs. Ware sent some of the lettahs to mothah that Joyce wrote. One was about

she?" inte

t of girl, for she draws beautifully. Mothah says that her sketche

ith an approving nod. "Next!" The Litt

s'pose this will fly into the cuckoo's

abeth Llo

s Post-

tuc

nd nevah mind a bit if their poah little young ones fall out of the nest. They seem to think that any kind of home is good enough, and that is the kind of a home that Elizabeth Lewis has. She is a poah little orphan, and is livin' on a farm up Green Rivah. Moth

anything about this

for the farm is several miles from a railroad, and the people she

is hand for the letters. "I'll put them in for you," he said. The

ast and one

into the cu

dded, q

Joyce, or

three shall w

said Rob,

onel, stooping to fasten the locust blos

y, and see if you can't beat Bobby Moore's old gray

like an arrow toward Locust, with the bi

shed up the dusty pike, and an old graybeard loafing in front of the corner grocery gave an amused chuckle. "Beats all how them two do get

o Louisville. But their course did not lie together long. In the city post-office they were separated, and sent on the