SANDY***
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SANDY
by
ALICE HEGAN RICE
Author of _Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch_
New York, The Century Co.
1905
[Illustration: "Looking up, he saw a slender little girl in a long tan coat and a whit tam-o'-shanter"]
TO MY AUNT
MISS MARY A. HEGAN WHO USED TO TELL ME BETTER STORIES THAN I SHALL EVER WRITE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I THE STOWAWAY II ON SHIPBOARD III THE CURSE OF WEALTH IV SIDE-TRACKED V SANDY RETIRES FROM BUSINESS VI HOLLIS FARM VII CONVALESCENCE VIII AUNT MELVY AS A SOOTHSAYER IX TRANSITION X WATERLOO XI "THE LIGHT THAT LIES" XII ANTICIPATION XIII THE COUNTY FAIR XIV A COUNCIL OF WAR XV HELL AND HEAVEN XVI THE NELSON HOME XVII UNDER THE WILLOWS XVIII THE VICTIM XIX THE TRIALS OF AN ASSISTANT POSTMASTER XX THE IRONY OF CHANCE XXI IN THE DARK XXII AT WILLOWVALE XXIII "THE SHADOW ON THE HEART" XXIV THE PRIMROSE WAY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"Looking up, he saw a slender little girl in a long tan coat and a white tam-o-shanter" Frontispiece
"He sent up yell after yell of victory for the land of his adoption"
"He smiled away his debt of gratitude"
"Then he forgot all about the steps and counting time"
"Burning deeds of prowess rioted in his brain"
"Sandy saw her waver"
"'It's been love, Sandy, ... ever since the first'"
CHAPTER I
THE STOWAWAY
An English mist was rolling lazily inland from the sea. It half enveloped the two great ocean liners that lay tugging at their moorings in the bay, and settled over the wharf with a grim determination to check, as far as possible, the traffic of the morning.
But the activity of the wharf, while impeded, was in no wise stopped. The bustle, rattle, and shouting were, in fact, augmented by the temporary interference. Everybody seemed in a hurry, and everybody seemed out of temper, save a boy who lay at full length on the quay and earnestly studied a weather-vane that was lazily trying to make up its mind which way to point.
He was ragged and brawny and picturesque. His hands, bronzed by the tan of sixteen summers, were clasped under his head, and his legs were crossed, one soleless shoe on high vaunting its nakedness in the face of an indifferent world. A sailor's blouse, two sizes too large, was held together at the neck by a bit of red cambric, and his trousers were anchored to their mooring by a heavy piece of yellow twine. The indolence of his position, however, was not indicative of the state of his mind; for under his weather-beaten old cap, perched sidewise on a tousled head, was a commotion of dreams and schemes, ambitions and plans, whose activities would have put to shame the busiest wharf in the world.
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