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JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON

Or

The Wife who was Not a Wife

by

LAURA JEAN LIBBEY







[Illustration: Jolly Sally Pendleton by Laura Jean Libbey]



Hart Series No. 43

Copyright 1897 by George Munro's Sons.

Published by
The Arthur Westbrook Company
Cleveland, O., U. S. A.




INDEX

CHAPTER                                                       PAGE

I.        BOTH GIRLS WERE SO STUNNINGLY PRETTY, AND WORE         5
          SUCH ODD, BEWITCHING COSTUMES ON THEIR TANDEM,
          THAT THE PEOPLE WHO STOPPED TO WATCH THE BEAUTIES
          AS THEY WHIRLED BY NICKNAMED THEM "THE HEAVENLY
          TWINS."

II.       IT IS ONE THING TO ADMIRE A PRETTY GIRL, QUITE        10
          ANOTHER THING TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HER.

III.      THE TERRIBLE WAGER AT THE GREAT RACE.                 13

IV.       WHICH WON?                                            19

V.        "SHALL WE BREAK THIS BETROTHAL, THAT WAS MADE ONLY    23
          IN FUN?"

VI.       THE WAY OF WOMEN THE WHOLE WORLD OVER.                26

VII.      BERNARDINE.                                           31

VIII.     "OH, I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU HAVE COME, DOCTOR!"        36

IX.       "WHAT A LONELY LIFE FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL YOUNG          38
          GIRL!"

X.        WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT LOVE?                            40

XI.       A SHADOW DARKENS THE PEACEFUL HOME OF THE             45
          BASKET-MAKER.

XII.      "YOU ARE FALSE AS YOU ARE FAIR, BERNARDINE!"          48

XIII.     HE WISHED HE COULD TELL SOME ONE HIS UNFORTUNATE      52
          LOVE STORY.

XIV.      "HAVE I BROKEN YOUR HEART, MY DARLING?"               58

XV.       "I LOVE YOU! I CAN NOT KEEP THE SECRET ANY            61
          LONGER!"

XVI.      "WHERE THERE IS NO JEALOUSY THERE IS LITTLE LOVE!"    64

XVII.                                                           70

XVIII.    FATE WEAVES A STRANGE WEB.                            74

XIX.      "TRUE LOVE NEVER DOES RUN SMOOTH."                    80

XX.       "IT WOULD BE WISER TO MAKE A FRIEND THAN AN ENEMY     84
          OF ME."

XXI.      JASPER WILDE MEETS WITH AN ADVENTURE.                 87

XXII.                                                           92

XXIII.                                                          95

XXIV.                                                           98

XXV.                                                           102

XXVI.                                                          105

XXVII.                                                         109

XXVIII.                                                        114

XXIX.                                                          117

XXX.                                                           125

XXXI.                                                          130

XXXII.                                                         135

XXXIII.                                                        141

XXXIV.                                                         145

XXXV.                                                          148

XXXVI.                                                         151

XXXVII.                                                        156

XXXVIII.                                                       161

XXXIX.                                                         165

XL.                                                            170

XLI.                                                           176

XLII.                                                          177

XLIII.                                                         182

XLIV.                                                          187

XLV.                                                           191

XLVI.                                                          196

XLVII.                                                         200

XLVIII.                                                        205

XLIX.                                                          210

L.                                                             215

LI.                                                            219

LII.                                                           224

LIII.                                                          229

LIV.                                                           232

LV.                                                            235

LVI.                                                           240

LVII.                                                          244

LVIII.                                                         249




JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON

OR

THE WIFE WHO WAS NOT A WIFE


CHAPTER I.

BOTH GIRLS WERE SO STUNNINGLY PRETTY, AND WORE SUCH
ODD, BEWITCHING COSTUMES ON THEIR TANDEM, THAT THE
PEOPLE WHO STOPPED TO WATCH THE BEAUTIES AS THEY
WHIRLED BY NICKNAMED THEM "THE HEAVENLY TWINS."


As Jay Gardiner drove down the village street behind his handsome pair
of prancing bays, holding the ribbons skillfully over them, all the
village maidens promenading up the village street or sitting in groups
on the porches turned to look at him.

He was certainly a handsome fellow; there was no denying that. He was
tall, broad-shouldered, with a fair, handsome face, laughing blue eyes,
a crisp, brown, curling mustache, and, what was better still, he was
heir to two millions of money.

He was passing the summer at the fashionable little village of Lee,
among the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

That did more to advertise the place than all the glowing newspaper
items the proprietor of the Summerset House could have paid for.

Every mother of a marriageable daughter who had heard of the millionaire
managed to rake and scrape together enough money to pass the season at
Lee.

It was laughable to see how adroitly these mothers managed to secure an
introduction, upon one pretext or another, to the handsome millionaire.
Then the daughters were duly brought forward and presented.

Every one knew the story of Jay Gardiner. His lady-mother and elder
sister lived in what was called the Castle, the grandest and most famous
homestead by far in Great Barrington.

With all the millions at her command, haughty Mrs. Gardiner had but one
great sorrow, and that was that her handsome son could not be induced to
remain at home and lead the life of a fashionable young gentleman of
leisure.

At college he had declared his intention of studying medicine. He had
graduated with high honors, and, much to his mother's annoyance, had
established himself as a full-fledged M. D.

If he had been poor, perhaps patients might not have come to him so
readily; but as it was, he found himself launched at once into a
lucrative practice.

This particular summer upon which our story opens, his grand lady-mother
was unusually incensed against handsome Jay. He had refused to spend his
vacation at the Castle, because, as he explained, there was a bevy of
fashionable girls invited there for him to fall in love with, and whom
he was expected to entertain.

"The long and the short of it is, mother, I shall not do it," he
decisively declared. "I shall simply run over to Lee and take up my
quarters in some unpretentious boarding-house, where I can come down to
my meals and lounge about in a _neglige_ shirt, and read my papers and
smoke my cigars swinging in a hammock, without being disturbed by
girls."

In high dudgeon his lady-mother and sister had sailed off to Europe, and
they lived all their after-lives to rue it, and to bemoan the fact that
they had not stayed at home to watch over the young man, and to guard
the golden prize from the band of women who were on the lookout for just
such an opportunity.

Jay Gardiner found just such an ideal boarding-house as he was looking
for. Every woman who came to the village with a marriageable daughter
tried to secure board at that boarding-house, but signally failed.

They never dreamed that the handsome, debonair young millionaire paid
the good landlady an exorbitant price to keep women out.

Good Widow Smith did her duty faithfully.

When Mrs. Pendleton, of New York, heard of the great attraction at Lee,
Massachusetts, she decided that that was the place where she and her two
daughters, Lou and Sally, should spend the summer.

"If either of you girls come home engaged to this millionaire," Mrs.
Pendleton had declared, "I shall consider it the greatest achievement of
my life. True, we live in a fine mansion on Fifth Avenue, and we are
supposed to be very wealthy; but not one of our dear five hundred
friends has discovered that the house we live in is merely rented, nor
that your father's business is mortgaged to the full extent. We will
have a hard time to pull through, and keep up appearances, until you two
are married off."

Mrs. Pendleton established herself at the Summerset House, with her two
daughters. Every Saturday afternoon the pompous old broker went out to
Lee, to make a show for the girls.

"The next question is," said Mrs. Pendleton, after the trunks were
unpacked, and the pretty clothes hung up in the various closets, "which
one of you two will Mr. Gardiner prefer?"

"Me!" said jolly Sally, with a mischievous laugh, complacently gazing at
the lovely face reflected in the mirror.

"It might be as well to wait until after he is introduced to us before
you answer that question," said Lou. "But how are we to meet him?"

"Your father will attend to that part of the business," said Mrs.
Pendleton. "He understands what he has to do, and will find a way to
accomplish it. Having marriageable daughters always sharpens a man's
wits. Your father will find some way to get in with young Mr. Gardiner,
depend upon that."

It required three weeks for Mr. Pendleton to secure an introduction to
the young man. On the following day the two sisters, dressed in their
best, and hanging on their father's arms, paraded up and down the
village streets until they espied the object of their search.
Introductions naturally followed; but, much to the chagrin of the girls,
their father, after chatting for a moment with handsome Mr. Gardiner,
dragged them along.

"I did not have a chance to say one word to him," said Lou,
disappointedly.

"Nor I," said Sally, poutingly.

"Don't make a dead set for a man the first time you see him,"
recommended Mr. Pendleton, grimly. "Take matters easy."

The proudest moment of their lives was when Jay Gardiner called upon
them at their hotel one afternoon. The girls were squabbling up in their
room when his card was handed them.

"Did he say which one of us he wishes to see?" cried Lou, breathlessly.

"The Misses Pendleton," replied the bell-boy.

There was a rush for their best clothes, and an exciting time for the
mother in getting the girls into them.

A moment later, two girls, both pretty as pictures, with their arms
lovingly twined about each other, glided into the parlor. Handsome Jay
turned from the window, thinking to himself that he had never beheld a
fairer picture.

There was half an hour's chat, and then he took his departure. He never
