



Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
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 POLLY
 OF LADY GAY COTTAGE

 BY

 EMMA C. DOWD

 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

 NEW YORK

 GROSSET & DUNLAP

 PUBLISHERS

 Made in the United States of America




COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY EMMA C. DOWD

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED




[Illustration: HAROLD WESTWOOD!]




 TO
 MY CRITIC, COUNSELOR
 AND COMRADE




CONTENTS


     I. THE ROSEWOOD BOX                               1

    II. LEONORA'S WONDERFUL NEWS                      12

   III. A WHIFF OF SLANDER                            20

    IV. COUSINS                                       36

     V. A MONOPOLIST AND A FANFARON                   46

    VI. "NOT FOR SALE"                                66

   VII. THE BLIZZARD                                  73

  VIII. THE INTERMEDIATE BIRTHDAY PARTY               89

    IX. THE EIGHTH ROSE                              105

     X. A VISIT FROM ERASTUS BEAN                    119

    XI. UNCLE MAURICE AT LADY GAY COTTAGE            125

   XII. LITTLE CHRIS                                 138

  XIII. ILGA BARRON                                  152

   XIV. POLLY IN NEW YORK                            165

    XV. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST                          175

   XVI. ROSES AND THORNS                             184

  XVII. A SUMMER NIGHT MYSTERY                       194

 XVIII. AT MIDVALE SPRINGS                           212

   XIX. TWO LETTERS                                  237

    XX. MRS. JOCELYN'S DINNER-PARTY                  250




POLLY OF LADY GAY COTTAGE




CHAPTER I

THE ROSEWOOD BOX


The telephone bell cut sharp into Polly's story.

She was recounting one of the merry hours that Mrs. Jocelyn had given
to her and Leonora, while Dr. Dudley and his wife were taking their
wedding journey. Still dimpling with laughter, she ran across to the
instrument; but as she turned back from the message her face was
troubled.

"Father says I am to come right over to the hospital," she told her
mother. "Mr. Bean--you know, the one that married Aunt Jane--has got
hurt, and he wants to see me. I hope he isn't going to die. He was
real good to me that time I was there, as good as he dared to be."

"I will go with you," Mrs. Dudley decided.

And, locking the house, they went out into the early evening darkness.

The physician was awaiting them in his office.

"Is he badly hurt?" asked Polly anxiously. "What does he want to see
me for?"

"We are afraid of internal injury," was the grave answer. "He was on
his way to you when the car struck him."

"To me?" Polly exclaimed.

"He was fetching a little box that belonged to your mother. Do you
recollect it--a small rosewood box?"

"Oh, yes!" she cried. "I'd forgotten all about it--there's a wreath of
tiny pearl flowers on the cover!"

The Doctor nodded.

"Mr. Bean seems to attach great value to the box or its contents."

"Oh, what is in it?"

"I don't know. But he kept tight hold of it even after he was knocked
down, and it was the first thing he called for when he regained
consciousness. I thought he had better defer seeing you until
to-morrow morning; but he wouldn't hear to it. So I let him have his
own way."

"Have you sent word to Aunt Jane?" inquired Polly, instinctively
shrinking from contact with the woman in whose power she had lived
through those dreadful years.

Dr. Dudley gave a smiling negative. "He begged me not to let her
know."

"I don't blame him!" Polly burst out. "I guess he's glad to get away
from her, if he did have to be hurt to do it."

"Probably he wishes first to make sure that the box is in your hands,"
observed the Doctor, rising. "She will have to be notified. Come, we
will go upstairs. The sooner the matter is off Mr. Bean's mind, the
better."

Polly was dismayed at sight of the little man's face. In their
whiteness his pinched features seemed more wizen than ever. But his
smile of welcome was eager.

"How do you do, my dear? My dear!" the wiry hand was extended with
evident pain.

Polly squeezed it sympathetically, and told him how sorry she was for
his accident.

Mr. Bean gazed at her with tender