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[Illustration: FROM AUNT TREMAYNE AND RALPH]




    SIX GIRLS

    _A HOME STORY_

    BY
    FANNIE BELLE IRVING

    ILLUSTRATED BY F. T. MERRILL

    BOSTON
    DANA ESTES AND COMPANY
    PUBLISHERS


    _Copyright, 1882_,
    By Estes and Lauriat.


    University Press:
    JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.




    CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

        I. UNDER THE TREES                                     7

       II. AROUND THE FIRE                                    18

      III. A FOUNDATION THAT BROUGHT KAT TO GRIEF             38

       IV. IN CONFIDENCE                                      51

        V. ONE DAY                                            65

       VI. A STRANGER                                         80

      VII. MR. CONGREVE SURPRISES HIMSELF AND EVERYBODY
           ELSE                                               97

     VIII. ODDS AND ENDS                                     113

       IX. WHAT OLIVE HEARD                                  128

        X. THE LITTLE BLACK TRUNK                            148

       XI. WHERE IS ERNESTINE?                               168

      XII. THE STORY                                         188

     XIII. A YEAR LATER                                      202

      XIV. STUDY OR PLAY?                                    221

       XV. CONGREVE HALL                                     240

      XVI. UNDER THE SHADY GREEN-WOOD TREE                   257

     XVII. SEVERAL THINGS                                    284

    XVIII. AT THE OPERA                                      306

      XIX. COMING HOME                                       336

       XX. A SAD STORY                                       355

      XXI. MY LADY                                           368

     XXII. TO REAR, TO LOVE, AND THEN TO LOSE                380

    XXIII. WHEN GOD DREW NEAR, AMONG HIS OWN TO CHOOSE       406

     XXIV. TWO SECRETS                                       420

      XXV. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A
           GOOD-NIGHT--FIVE YEARS LATER                      437




    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


    PAGE

    FROM AUNT TREMAYNE AND RALPH                  _Frontispiece_

    "O ERNESTINE, HOW LOVELY!"                                17

    KAT AND KIT                                               49

    THE OLD GENTLEMAN LIFTED JEAN UP ON THE POST              92

    "NOW LET'S SEE WHAT'S IN THIS WONDERFUL TRUNK"           167

    "WHY, HOW DO YOU DO, MY DEAR CHILD?"                     244

    "WHAT IS THE MATTER? WHAT HAS HAPPENED?"                 267

    MR. CONGREVE WOULD COME INTO THE GALLERY                 314




SIX GIRLS.

CHAPTER I.

UNDER THE TREES.


There were ripples of sunshine all tangled in the glowing scarlet of the
geranium bed and dancing blithely over the grass. A world of melody in
quivering bursts of happy song came from the spreading canopy of leaves
overhead, and as an accompaniment, the wind laughed and whispered and
kept the air in one continual smile with a kiss on its lips, born of
supreme contentment in the summer loveliness.

In the cool, deep shade, cast by the grandest of old beech trees, a girl
sat, her white dress in freshest relief against the green surroundings,
a piece of sewing in her nimble fingers, and the wind tossing her
loosened hair all about her face and shoulders. She was quite alone, and
seemed just the setting for the quiet, lovely surroundings, so much so,
that, had an artist chanced to catch the sight, he would have lost no
time in transferring it to canvas,--the wide stretch of grass,
alternately steeped in cool shadows and mellow sunshine, the branching,
rustling canopy of leaves, the white-robed figure with smiling lips and
busy fingers, and just visible in the back-ground an old house wrapped
in vines and lying in the shade.

Somebody came from among the trees just at this moment and crossed the
grass with a peculiarly graceful and swaying step, as though she had
just drifted down with the sunshine and was being idly blown along by
the wind, another girl in the palest of pink dresses, with ripples of
snowy lace all over it, and a wide-brimmed hat shading her eyes. And
speaking distance being gained, she said, with a breezy little laugh:
"Sewing? Why, it's too warm to breathe."

"That's the reason I sew," returned the other, with a nod of energy. "I
should suffocate if I just sat still and thought how warm it is. Where
have you been?"

"Down to the pond, skipping stones, and wishing that I could go in,"
answered the new-comer, sitting down on the grass with a careful and
gracefully effective arrangement of her flounces and lace. "I don't see
why papa won't let us take the boat; it did look too tempting. Suppose
we go and do it, anyhow, Bea, and just let him see that we can manage it
without being taught. The pond is all in the shade now, and a row would
be delicious."

"Why, Ernestine!" Bea said, with a glance of surprise; "You wouldn't, I
know. Papa will teach us right away, and then we will have delightful
times; but when he has been so good as to get us the boat and promise to
have us learn to manage it, I'm sure I wouldn't disobey and try alone."

Ernestine laughed again her pretty saucy laugh and threw her head back
so that it caught a dancing sunbeam and held it prisoner in the bright
hair.

"I would," she said flippantly. "I'd like to, just for the sake of