A Little Country Girl

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[Illustration: THE STAIRCASE WINDOW.

Candace settled herself for a long, comfortable reading before
breakfast.

PAGE 65.]




A

LITTLE COUNTRY GIRL.

BY

SUSAN COOLIDGE,

          AUTHOR OF "THE NEW YEAR'S BARGAIN," "WHAT KATY DID,"
          "A GUERNSEY LILY," ETC.

       *       *       *       *       *

          BOSTON:
          ROBERTS BROTHERS.
          1895.




          _Copyright, 1885_,
          BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.



          University Press:
          JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.




CONTENTS.


  Chapter                                   Page
     I. ON THE "EOLUS"                        7
    II. THE FIRST EVENING                    33
   III. A WALK ON THE CLIFFS                 61
    IV. THE MANUAL OF PERFECT GENTILITY      90
     V. DOWN TO BEAVER TAIL                 118
    VI. A TALK ABOUT SHYNESS                149
   VII. TWO PICNICS                         175
  VIII. BRIC-A-BRAC                         204
    IX. PERPLEXED                           229
     X. A WORD FITLY SPOKEN                 248
    XI. FIVE AND ONE MAKE SIX               265




A LITTLE COUNTRY GIRL.




CHAPTER I.

ON THE "EOLUS."


IT was on one of the cool, brilliant days which early June brings to the
Narragansett country, that the steamer "Eolus" pushed out from Wickford
Pier on her afternoon trip to Newport. The sky was of a beautiful
translucent blue; the sunshine had a silvery rather than a golden
radiance. A sea-wind blew up the Western Passage, so cool as to make the
passengers on the upper deck glad to draw their wraps about them. The
low line of the mainland beyond Conanicut and down to Beaver Tail
glittered with a sort of clear-cut radiance, and seemed lifted a little
above the water. Candace Arden heard the Captain say that he judged,
from the look of things, that there was going to be a change of weather
before long.

Captain Peleg King was a great favorite on his line of travel. He had a
pleasant, shrewd face, grizzled hair, a spare, active figure; and he
seemed to notice every one of his passengers and to take an interest in
them.

"Going down to Newport, Miss?" he said to Candace, after giving her one
or two quick looks.

The question was superfluous, for the "Eolus" went nowhere else except
to Newport; but it was well-meant, for the Captain thought that Candace
seemed lonely and ill at ease, and he wished to cheer her.

"Yes, sir," she answered, shyly.

"Your folks there for the summer?" he went on.

"No, sir; I'm going to stay with my cousin Mrs. Gray."

"Mrs. Courtenay Gray you mean, I guess. Well, it's queer, but I sort er
thought that you favored her a little. She's down early this year. I
fetched her and the family across on my evening trip more'n two weeks
ago. Mrs. Gray's a mighty nice lady; I'm always pleased when she comes
aboard. Wouldn't you like to take a seat in the wheel-house, Miss? The
wind's blowing pretty fresh."

Candace was not aware that this was a distinguishing attention which the
Captain did not pay everybody, and which she owed partly to her
connection with Mrs. Gray and partly to her solitary look, which had
touched Captain Peleg's benevolent heart. He had a girl of his own "over
to Wickford," who was about the same age; and it made him "kind of
tender" toward other girls who didn't seem to have any one to look after
them. But the wind _was_ fresh, and it was pleasant to be spoken to and
noticed by some one on this, the first long journey of her short life;
so she thankfully accepted the Captain's invitation, and let him escort
her along the deck, and assist her to mount the two steps which led into
the wheel-house.

It was rather a pleasant-looking place in which she found herself. Three
sides of the little enclosure were lined with windows, through which the
green shores, which seemed to be rapidly drifting past them, could be
seen. The fourth side was filled with a long cushioned bench. In the
middle of the glassed front was the big brass wheel, shining with polish
and friction, and revolving artistically in the hands of its steersman,
who kept his eye fixed alternately on the water and on his compass.
There seemed to be no regulation against speaking to this "man at the
wheel," or if there were, it was not strictly regarded; for two young
ladies, who were already ensconced in one corner of the long seat, were
plying him with all manner of questions.

They were rather pretty girls of that hard modern type which carries the
air of knowing everything worth the knowing, having a right to
everything worth the having, and being fully determined to claim that
right to its fullest extent. As Candace entered, they favored her with
one rapid, scrutinizing glance that took in every detail of her apparel,
from the goat-skin boots which were too large for her feet to the round
hat whose every bow bore witness to a country milliner, and after that
they noticed her no more.

She, for her part, only too glad to be left unnoticed, looked shyly out
of the corners of her eyes at them.