SANDY

BY

ALICE HEGAN RICE

AUTHOR OF

"MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH"

NEW YORK

THE CENTURY CO.

1905

TO MY AUNT

MISS MARY A. HEGAN

WHO USED TO TELL ME BETTER STORIES

THAN I SHALL EVER WRITE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I   THE STOWAWAY

II   ON SHIPBOARD

III   THE CURSE OF WEALTH

IV   SIDE-TRACKED

V   SANDY RETIRES FROM BUSINESS

VI   HOLLIS FARM

VII   CONVALESCENCE

VIII   AUNT MELVY AS A SOOTHSAYER

IX   TRANSITION

X   WATERLOO

XI   "THE LIGHT THAT LIES"

XII   ANTICIPATION

XIII   THE COUNTY FAIR

XIV   A COUNCIL OF WAR

XV   HELL AND HEAVEN

XVI   THE NELSON HOME

XVII   UNDER THE WILLOWS

XVIII   THE VICTIM

XIX   THE TRIALS OF AN ASSISTANT POSTMASTER

XX   THE IRONY OF CHANCE

XXI   IN THE DARK

XXII   AT WILLOWVALE

XXIII   "THE SHADOW ON THE HEART"

XXIV   THE PRIMROSE WAY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"Looking up, he saw a slender little girl in a long tan coat and a white tam-o-shanter" Frontispiece

"He sent up yell after yell of victory for the land of his adoption"

"He smiled away his debt of gratitude"

"Then he forgot all about the steps and counting time"

"Burning deeds of prowess rioted in his brain"

"Sandy saw her waver"

"'It's been love, Sandy, ... ever since the first'"

SANDY

CHAPTER I

THE STOWAWAY

An English mist was rolling lazily inland from the sea. It half enveloped the two great ocean liners that lay tugging at their moorings in the bay, and settled over the wharf with a grim determination to check, as far as possible, the traffic of the morning.

But the activity of the wharf, while impeded, was in no wise stopped. The bustle, rattle, and shouting were, in fact, augmented by the temporary interference. Everybody seemed in a hurry, and everybody seemed out of temper, save a boy who lay at full length on the quay and earnestly

studied a weather-vane that was lazily trying to make up its mind which way to point.

He was ragged and brawny and picturesque. His hands, bronzed by the tan of sixteen summers, were clasped under his head, and his legs were crossed, one soleless shoe on high vaunting its nakedness in the face of an indifferent world. A sailor's blouse, two sizes too large, was held together at the neck by a bit of red cambric, and his trousers were