E-text prepared by Roger Frank
“Rode down the hill into the valley.”
By
MARY ELLEN CHASE
Illustrated by
R. FARRINGTON ELWELL
THE PAGE COMPANY
BOSTON—MDCCCCXVI
by the Page Company
All rights reserved
First Impression, January, 1916
Second Impression, March, 1916
Third Impression, May, 1916
Fourth Impression, June, 1916
Fifth Impression, August, 1916
PRESSWORK BY
THE COLONIAL PRESS
C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY, BOSTON, U. S. A.
OF MY FATHER
WHO, PERHAPS, KNOWS, AND IS GLAD
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I—VIRGINIA'S COUNTRY
CHAPTER II—THE LAST NIGHT AT HOME
CHAPTER III—THE JOURNEY EAST
CHAPTER IV—VERMONT AS VIRGINIA SAW IT
CHAPTER V—THE "BROADENING EXPERIENCE" BEGINS
CHAPTER VI—ST. HELEN'S AND THE HERMITAGE
CHAPTER VII—"PERTAINING ESPECIALLY TO DECORUM"
CHAPTER VIII—THE LAST STRAW
CHAPTER IX—THE THANKSGIVING ORATION OF LUCILE DU BOSE
CHAPTER X—THANKSGIVING AND MISS WALLACE
CHAPTER XI—THE DISCIPLINING OF MISS VAN RENSAELAR
CHAPTER XII—THE VIGILANTES
CHAPTER XIII—THE TEST OF CARVER STANDISH III
CHAPTER XIV—WYOMING HOSPITALITY.
CHAPTER XV—VESPER SERVICE
CHAPTER XVI—A SPRING-TIME ROMANCE
CHAPTER XVII—THE VIGILANTES INITIATE
CHAPTER XVIII—THE HEART-BROKEN MISS WALLACE
CHAPTER XIX—THE SENIOR PAGEANT
CHAPTER XX—THE VIGILANTES’ LAST MEETING
CHAPTER XXI—HOME ONCE MORE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
“Rode down the hill into the valley.”
“Forded the creek in a mad splash of water.”
“Jim, scorning assistance, had risen from his chair and stood facing his audience.”
“Some rods ahead, Virginia espied a lone figure in a gray shawl.”
“Virginia knelt by the altar rail.”
“She sat her horse like a knight of old.”
“The road lay at the very base of the green foot-hills.”
THE GIRL FROM THE BIG HORN COUNTRY
CHAPTER I—VIRGINIA’S COUNTRY
A September afternoon in the Big Horn mountains! The air crystalclear; the sky cloudless; the outlines of t