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FRIENDSHIP AND FOLLY




[Illustration: "THERE WAS A LITTLE BLACK SHAPE SITTING ON SOME
LUGGAGE."]




[Illustration: Title page]




    FRIENDSHIP AND FOLLY


    A Novel

    BY

    MARIA LOUISE POOL

    AUTHOR OF

    "IN A DIKE SHANTY," "BOSS," ETC.

    [Illustration]

    BOSTON

    L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY

    (INCORPORATED)

    1898




    _Copyright, 1898_
    BY THE J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO.

    _Copyright, 1898_
    BY L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY

    (INCORPORATED)

    Colonial Press
    Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
    Boston, U.S.A.




CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER                                      PAGE

        I. AT SAVIN HILL                           15

       II. A SLIGHT ACCIDENT                       43

      III. "I WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION"          59

       IV. "I REALLY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN AN
              ACTRESS"                             84

        V. BEING A CHAPERON                       101

       VI. THE EVENING BEFORE                     114

      VII. "A BLESSED CHANCE"                     128

     VIII. ON BOARD THE SCYTHIA                   140

       IX. "COLD PORRIDGE HOT AGAIN"              150

        X. THE PASSENGER LIST                     169

       XI. A KNOCK-DOWN BLOW                      178

      XII. "DON'T BE CRUEL TO ME"                 186

     XIII. AN INVOLUNTARY BATH                    205

      XIV. A BULL TERRIER                         216

       XV. "TOO MUCH FOR ANY WOMAN TO FORGIVE"    230

      XVI. TETE-A-TETE                            251

     XVII. "ARE YOU GOING TO MARRY LORD MAXWELL?" 261

    XVIII. LEANDER AS A MEANS                     274

      XIX. "I SHALL COME BACK"                    289




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                 PAGE

    "THERE WAS A LITTLE BLACK SHAPE SITTING ON
       SOME LUGGAGE."                   _Frontispiece_

    "'I BORE YOU SO,' SHE SAID."                  119

    "'LET ME SEE IT,' SAID CAROLYN."              174

    "LAWRENCE SPRANG TO HIS FEET."                235




FRIENDSHIP AND FOLLY.




CHAPTER I.

AT SAVIN HILL.


There was one large wicker chair on the piazza, and in the chair sat
a girl. It was a spacious piazza, the roof of which was supported
by gnarled tree-trunks, the bark and the knots carefully preserved
so as to look "rustic." The deep eaves drooped in a rustic manner
also, and there were trumpet-vines and wistaria, and various other
creeping things of the vegetable world, wandering about in a careful
carelessness, like the hair of a woman when it is dressed most
effectively.

The lawn swept down rather steeply and stopped suddenly against a
thick stone wall that was covered with ivy.

On top of this wall, ruthlessly trampling back and forth on the
leaves, was a small boy dressed in the fashion of a member of the
navy. His blue pantaloons flapped very widely at the ankles, and were
belted about him by a leather belt on which was the word "Vireo," in
gilt letters; his brimless cap was tipped perilously on that part of
his head where the warm affections used to be located in the days
of phrenology. On this cap also appeared the word "Vireo," in gilt.
This figure, outlined as it was against the bright blue of the sky,
had the effect of not being more than about sixteen inches long. And
in truth Leander Ffolliott was very small for his age, which was ten
years and five months. He did not feel small, however; his mind might
suitably have inhabited a giant's frame, so far as his estimation of
himself and the Ffolliott family generally was concerned. But the
rest of the family did not always agree with him in this estimation,
and at such times of disagreement the boy was given to screaming and
kicking until the air round about this summer residence resounded,
and seemed actually to crackle and glimmer in sympathy with the mood
of Leander.

Just now he had stopped in his trampling of the ivy leaves. He was
standing with his legs wide apart,