TEMPLE BAILEY

AUTHOR OF GLORY OF YOUTH

ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES S. CORSON

NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1914 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY

First printing, December, 1914 Second printing, February, 1915 Third printing, March, 1915 Fourth printing, March, 1915 Fifth printing, April, 1915 Sixth printing, July, 1915 Seventh printing, November, 1915 Contrary Mary

To My Sister

CHAPTER I

In Which Silken Ladies Ascend One Stairway, and a Lonely Wayfarer Ascends Another and Comes Face to Face with Old Friends.

CHAPTER II

In Which Rose-Leaves and Old Slippers Speed a Happy Pair; and in Which Sweet and Twenty Speaks a New and Modern Language, and Gives a Reason for Renting a Gentleman's Library.

CHAPTER III

In Which a Lonely Wayfarer Becomes Monarch of All He Surveys; and in Which One Who Might Have Been Presented as the Hero of this Tale is Forced, Through No Fault of His Own, to Take His Chances with the Rest.

CHAPTER IV

In Which a Little Bronze Boy Grins in the Dark; and in Which Mary Forgets that There is Any One Else in the House.

CHAPTER V

In Which Roger Remembers a Face and Delilah Remembers a Voice; and in Which a Poem and a Pussy Cat Play an Important Part.

CHAPTER VI

In Which Mary Brings Christmas to the Tower Rooms, and in Which Roger Declines a Privilege for Which Porter Pleads.

CHAPTER VII

In Which Aunt Frances Speaks of Matrimony as a Fixed Institution and is Met by Flaming Arguments; and in Which a Strange Voice Sings Upon the Stairs.

CHAPTER VIII

In Which Little-Lovely Leila Sees a Picture in an Unexpected Place; and in Which Perfect Faith Speaks Triumphantly Over the Telephone.

CHAPTER IX

In Which Roger Sallies Forth in the Service of a Damsel in Distress; and in Which He Meets Dragons Along the Way.