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[Illustration: "_Yes, surrendered. Haven't you sent for money? Haven't
you given up? Aren't you trying to run away?_"]




HEMPFIELD

_A Novel_


By
DAVID GRAYSON

Author of
"Adventures in Contentment," "Adventures in
Friendship," "The Friendly Road"


[Illustration]


_Illustrated by Thomas Fogarty_


GARDEN CITY
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1915


_Copyright, 1915, by_
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

[Illustration]




[Illustration]

CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE

      I. I Discover the Printing-office                                3
     II. I Step Boldly into the Story                                 23
    III. Anthy                                                        37
     IV. Enter Mr. Ed Smith                                           51
      V. Nort                                                         71
     VI. A Man to Help Fergus                                         83
    VII. Phaeton Drives the Chariot of the _Star_                    101
   VIII. Nort and Anthy                                              118
     IX. A Letter to Lincoln                                         123
      X. The Wonderful Day                                           133
     XI. In Which Great Plans Are Evolved, and There Is a
            Surprising Event                                         151
    XII. The Explosion                                               171
   XIII. Anthy Takes Command                                         190
    XIV. We Begin the Subjugation of Nort                            204
     XV. I Get Better Acquainted with Anthy                          222
    XVI. The Old Captain Comes into His Own                          228
   XVII. In Which Certain Deep Matters of the Heart Are Presented    236
  XVIII. Nort Sniffs                                                 240
    XIX. Fergus's Favourite Poem                                     250
     XX. The Celebration                                             260
    XXI. Starlight                                                   270
   XXII. Fergus and Nort                                             275
  XXIII. The Battle                                                  289
   XXIV. Two Letters                                                 300
    XXV. The Flying machine                                          305
   XXVI. The Return of the Prodigal                                  312
  XXVII. Fergus MacGregor Goes to the Hills                          321




[Illustration]

ILLUSTRATIONS


  "Yes, surrendered. Haven't you sent for money? Haven't you
  given up? Aren't you trying to run away?"      _Frontispiece in color_

  Ed's innocent suggestion of a house-cleaning was taken by
  Fergus as a deadly affront                                          68

  John Bass's blacksmith shop                                         76

  He pictured himself sitting in the quiet study of the
  minister, looking sad, sad...                                      78

  What a thing is youth! That sunny morning in Hempfield Nort
  thought that he was drinking the uttermost dregs of life--and
  yet, somehow, he was able to stand a little aside and enjoy
  it all                                                              80

  "Well!" exclaimed Nort, drawing a long breath, "I never
  imagined it would feel so good to be orfunts"                      104

  She turned around quickly--but there was no one there to see       128

  After that she opened her heart more and more to me--a little
  here, a little there                                               224

  "David, I saw a face looking in at that window"                    286


_Illustrations in Text_

                                                                    PAGE

  It sat there in its garden and watched with mild interest the
  hasty world go by                                                   11

  A very lonely little girl, sitting at a certain place on the
  third step from the bottom of the stairs                            40

  The home of her girlhood seemed dreadfully shabby, small, and
  old-fashioned                                                       42

  I soon found that every one else in the office, Anthy
  included, had begun to be interested in Nort                        91

  "I tell you, Miss Doane," said Nort, explosively, "the only
  way to make a success of the _Star_ is to publish the truth
  about Hempfield----"                                               169

  "Practical!" he exploded. "You are a blackguard, sir! You are
  a scoundrel, sir!"                                                 185

  The old Captain was perfect. He was a very pattern of
  gallantry                                                          268

  "Toys! Mere circus tricks to take in fools!"                       310

  "I couldn't stay away another minute. I had to know what the
  old Captain said and did when the flying machine came to
  Hempfield"                                                         314

  Fergus stuck his small battered volume of Robert Burns's
  poems in his pocket--and going out of the back door struck
  out for the hills                                                  332




HEMPFIELD


[Illustration]




[Illustration]

CHAPTER I

I DISCOVER THE PRINTING-OFFICE


For years my sister Harriet and I confined our relationships with the
neighbouring town of Hempfield to the Biblical "yea, yea" and "nay,
nay," not knowing how much we missed, and used its friendly people as
one might use an inanimate plough or an insensate rolling-pin, as mere
implements or adjuncts in the provision of food or clothing for our
needs.

It came only gradually alive for us. As the years passed the utilitarian
stranger with whom we traded became an acquaintance, and the
acquaintance a friend. Here and there a man or a woman stepped out of
the background, as it were, of a dim picture, and became a living being.
One of the first was the old gunsmith of whom I have already written.
Another was Doctor North--though he really lived outside the town--whom
