



Produced by Beth Baran and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
produced from images made available by the HathiTrust
Digital Library, Original from University of California.)









THE WYNDHAM GIRLS




[Illustration: "TOM HAD CAMPED OUT, AND HE INSISTED ON COOKING THE
STEAK."]




  THE
  WYNDHAM GIRLS

  BY
  MARION AMES TAGGART

  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
  BY C. M. RELYEA

  NEW YORK
  THE CENTURY CO.
  1902


  Copyright, 1901, 1902, by
  THE CENTURY CO.

  _Published October, 1902_

  THE DEVINNE PRESS




  TO
  CAROLYN WELLS




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                              PAGE

      I "POOR HUMPTY DUMPTY!"                             3

     II FRIENDS, COUNSELORS, AND PLANS                   22

    III WAYS AND MEANS                                   40

     IV MAKING THE BEST OF IT                            59

      V PHYLLIS AND BARBARA ENTER THE LISTS              75

     VI MARK TAPLEY'S KIND OF DAYS                       91

    VII TAKING ARMS AGAINST A SEA OF TROUBLES           107

   VIII THE TURN OF THE LANE                            122

     IX HOME-KEEPING HEARTS                             140

      X DISCOVERIES                                     157

     XI LOYAL PHYLLIS                                   172

    XII THE SQUARE BECOMES A TRIANGLE                   190

   XIII THE STRAY UNIT                                  207

    XIV THE LITTLE BLIND GOD OPENS HIS EYES             224

     XV WREATHING HOLLY AND TWINING BAY                 242

    XVI SPOKES FROM THE HUB                             258

   XVII THE LADY OF THE SCALES                          271

  XVIII UNDER THE HARVEST MOON                          289




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                       PAGE

  "TOM HAD CAMPED OUT, AND HE INSISTED ON
    COOKING THE STEAK"                       _Frontispiece_

  THE WYNDHAM GIRLS                                       7

  "A YOUNG MAN DASHED DOWN THE STEPS INTO THE RUINS"     51

  AUNT HENRIETTA                                         81

  THE EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF PEACE                     125

  "'LOOK OUT, TRUCHI-KI; YOU'LL FALL!' PHYLLIS SAID"    145

  "'I KNEW THAT IF I WAS AWFULLY ILL MISS BAB WOULD BE
     NICE TO YOU,' MURMURED MARGERY"                    237

  A BEARER OF GOOD TIDINGS                              279




THE WYNDHAM GIRLS

CHAPTER I

"POOR HUMPTY DUMPTY!"


"No pink for me, please; I want that beautiful shimmering green, made
up over shining white silk. It will make my glossy brown eyes and hair
look like a ripe chestnut among its green leaves."

"Oh, Bab, such a glistening sentence! 'Shimmering green,''shining
white,' 'glossy hair'--you didn't mean glossy eyes, I hope! Besides,
chestnuts don't show among green leaves; they stay in their burs till
they drop off the tree."

"Now, Phyllis, what is the use of spoiling a poetical
metaphor--figure--what do you call it? Which do you like best? Have you
made up your mind, Jessamy?"

"I want all white; probably this mousseline de soie."

"I'm rather inclined to the pearl, yet the violet is lovely."

"You both 'know your effects,' as that conceited little novelist said
last night," cried Barbara. "Jessamy's a dream in white, and Phyl
looks too sweet for mortal uses in anything demure."

The soft May wind from the distant river blew the lace curtains gently
to and fro, and lifted the squares of delicate fabrics scattered over
the couch on which the three young girls were sitting. Jessamy, the
elder of the two Wyndham sisters, was at eighteen very beautiful, with
dainty elegance of motion, refinement of speech, almost stately grace,
unusual to her age and generation.

Barbara, a year younger, was her opposite. Life, energy, fun were
declared in every quick turn of her head and hands; small in figure,
with sparkling dark eyes, and a saucy tilt of nose and chin, she
could hardly have contrasted more sharply with her tall, gray-eyed,
delicately tinted sister, and with what Bab herself called "Jessamy's
Undine ways."

The third girl, Phyllis, was twin in age to Jessamy, but unlike either
of the others in appearance and temperament. She was in reality their
cousin, the one child of their father's only brother, but, as she had
been brought up with them since her fourth year, Jessamy and Barbara
knew no lesser kinship to her than to each other.

At first glance Phyllis was not pretty; to those who had known her for
even a brief time she was beautiful. Sweetness, unselfishness, content
shone out from her dark-blue eyes, with the large pupils and long, dark
lashes. Her lips rested together with the suggestion of a smile in
their corners, and the clear pallor of her complexion was shaded by
her masses of dark-brown hair, which warmed into red tints under the
sunlight.

Across the room from her daughters and niece, enjoying the girls'
happiness as she always did, sat Mrs. Wyndham, rocking slowly.

She was a fragile woman, still clad in the mourning she had worn for
her husband for seven years,--a sweet and gentle creature, who, one
felt at once, had been properly placed by Providence in luxury, and
fortunately shielded from hardship; for the Wyndhams were wealthy. The
morning-room in the great house on Murray Hill showed evidence of being
the spot where the family gathered informally for rest and recreation;
it made no attempt at special beauty, still it was full of countless
little objects which declared the long custom of all its inmates of
purchasing whatever struck their fancy, regardless of its cost or
subsequent usefulness.

The three young girls, differing in many ways, were alike in
bearing the stamp of having spent their short lives among luxurious
surroundings, shielded from the cradle against the sharp buffets of
common experience.

Even the samples fluttering under their fingers and the touch of the
spring wind bore the name of a French artist on Fifth Avenue whose
skill only the highly favored could command, and the consultation
under way was for the selection for each young girl of gowns fit for a
princess's wearing, yet intended for the use of maidens not yet "out,"
in the hops at the hotel at Bar Harbor in the coming summer.

"Madrina, do you care which we choose?" asked Bab, jumping up in a
shower of samples which flew in all directions at her sudden movement,
