Title:  Phyllis

Author:  Maria Thompson Daviess

Release Date:  February 17, 2005 [eBook #15093]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ISO-646-us (us-ASCII)

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PHYLLIS

by

MARIA THOMPSON DAVIESS

Author of The Tinder Box, The Melting of Molly, etc.

With Illustrations by Percy D. Johnson

New York
The Century Co.

1914

[Illustration:  Down that garden path I flew]

TO

HELENA RUTH KETCHAM

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Down that garden path I flew (Frontispiece)

Then Roxanne and the bottle and I all collapsed on the grass together

He stood there in the doorway and laughed until his big shoulders shook

I never saw my father’s face so lovely

Tony ... nosed almost every inch of the shed

He just moaned he was making an explosion

The Colonel handed me the medal

“You stand right here and tell me how it all looks”

CHAPTER I

The country is so much larger than the city and so empty that you rattle around in it until you wonder if you are ever going to get stuck to any place, especially if there isn’t a house numbered anywhere.  Our street is named Providence Road and the house Byrd Mansion and I am afraid I’ll never be at home there as long as I live.  But the doctor says Mother has to live in the country for always, and I’m only glad it isn’t any countrier than Byrdsville.

The worst thing about it to me is that this house I live in and the town I live in are named for the lovely dark-eyed girl who lives down in the old-fashioned cottage that backs up on our garden.  She moved out for me to move in, just because I am rich and she is poor.  I can’t look at her straight, but I love her so that I can hardly stand it.  All the other girls in school love her too, and she is not at all afraid of the boys, but treats them just as if they were human beings and could be loved as such.  That awful long-legged Tony walks home with her almost every day and they all laugh and have a good time.