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JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON
Or
The Wife who was Not a Wife
by
LAURA JEAN LIBBEY
[Illustration: Jolly Sally Pendleton by Laura Jean Libbey]
Hart Series No. 43
Copyright 1897 by George Munro's Sons.
Published by
The Arthur Westbrook Company
Cleveland, O., U. S. A.
INDEX
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BOTH GIRLS WERE SO STUNNINGLY PRETTY, AND WORE 5
SUCH ODD, BEWITCHING COSTUMES ON THEIR TANDEM,
THAT THE PEOPLE WHO STOPPED TO WATCH THE BEAUTIES
AS THEY WHIRLED BY NICKNAMED THEM "THE HEAVENLY
TWINS."
II. IT IS ONE THING TO ADMIRE A PRETTY GIRL, QUITE 10
ANOTHER THING TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HER.
III. THE TERRIBLE WAGER AT THE GREAT RACE. 13
IV. WHICH WON? 19
V. "SHALL WE BREAK THIS BETROTHAL, THAT WAS MADE ONLY 23
IN FUN?"
VI. THE WAY OF WOMEN THE WHOLE WORLD OVER. 26
VII. BERNARDINE. 31
VIII. "OH, I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU HAVE COME, DOCTOR!" 36
IX. "WHAT A LONELY LIFE FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL YOUNG 38
GIRL!"
X. WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT LOVE? 40
XI. A SHADOW DARKENS THE PEACEFUL HOME OF THE 45
BASKET-MAKER.
XII. "YOU ARE FALSE AS YOU ARE FAIR, BERNARDINE!" 48
XIII. HE WISHED HE COULD TELL SOME ONE HIS UNFORTUNATE 52
LOVE STORY.
XIV. "HAVE I BROKEN YOUR HEART, MY DARLING?" 58
XV. "I LOVE YOU! I CAN NOT KEEP THE SECRET ANY 61
LONGER!"
XVI. "WHERE THERE IS NO JEALOUSY THERE IS LITTLE LOVE!" 64
XVII. 70
XVIII. FATE WEAVES A STRANGE WEB. 74
XIX. "TRUE LOVE NEVER DOES RUN SMOOTH." 80
XX. "IT WOULD BE WISER TO MAKE A FRIEND THAN AN ENEMY 84
OF ME."
XXI. JASPER WILDE MEETS WITH AN ADVENTURE. 87
XXII. 92
XXIII. 95
XXIV. 98
XXV. 102
XXVI. 105
XXVII. 109
XXVIII. 114
XXIX. 117
XXX. 125
XXXI. 130
XXXII. 135
XXXIII. 141
XXXIV. 145
XXXV. 148
XXXVI. 151
XXXVII. 156
XXXVIII. 161
XXXIX. 165
XL. 170
XLI. 176
XLII. 177
XLIII. 182
XLIV. 187
XLV. 191
XLVI. 196
XLVII. 200
XLVIII. 205
XLIX. 210
L. 215
LI. 219
LII. 224
LIII. 229
LIV. 232
LV. 235
LVI. 240
LVII. 244
LVIII. 249
JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON
OR
THE WIFE WHO WAS NOT A WIFE
CHAPTER I.
BOTH GIRLS WERE SO STUNNINGLY PRETTY, AND WORE SUCH
ODD, BEWITCHING COSTUMES ON THEIR TANDEM, THAT THE
PEOPLE WHO STOPPED TO WATCH THE BEAUTIES AS THEY
WHIRLED BY NICKNAMED THEM "THE HEAVENLY TWINS."
As Jay Gardiner drove down the village street behind his handsome pair
of prancing bays, holding the ribbons skillfully over them, all the
village maidens promenading up the village street or sitting in groups
on the porches turned to look at him.
He was certainly a handsome fellow; there was no denying that. He was
tall, broad-shouldered, with a fair, handsome face, laughing blue eyes,
a crisp, brown, curling mustache, and, what was better still, he was
heir to two millions of money.
He was passing the summer at the fashionable little village of Lee,
among the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.
That did more to advertise the place than all the glowing newspaper
items the proprietor of the Summerset House could have paid for.
Every mother of a marriageable daughter who had heard of the millionaire
managed to rake and scrape together enough money to pass the season at
Lee.
It was laughable to see how adroitly these mothers managed to secure an
introduction, upon one pretext or another, to the handsome millionaire.
Then the daughters were duly brought forward and presented.
Every one knew the story of Jay Gardiner. His lady-mother and elder
sister lived in what was called the Castle, the grandest and most famous
homestead by far in Great Barrington.
With all the millions at her command, haughty Mrs. Gardiner had but one
great sorrow, and that was that her handsome son could not be induced to
remain at home and lead the life of a fashionable young gentleman of
leisure.
At college he had declared his intention of studying medicine. He had
graduated with high honors, and, much to his mother's annoyance, had
established himself as a full-fledged M. D.
If he had been poor, perhaps patients might not have come to him so
readily; but as it was, he found himself launched at once into a
lucrative practice.
This particular summer upon which our story opens, his grand lady-mother
was unusually incensed against handsome Jay. He had refused to spend his
vacation at the Castle, because, as he explained, there was a bevy of
fashionable girls invited there for him to fall in love with, and whom
he was expected to entertain.
"The long and the short of it is, mother, I shall not do it," he
decisively declared. "I shall simply run over to Lee and take up my
quarters in some unpretentious boarding-house, where I can come down to
my meals and lounge about in a _neglige_ shirt, and read my papers and
smoke my cigars swinging in a hammock, without being disturbed by
girls."
In high dudgeon his lady-mother and sister had sailed off to Europe, and
they lived all their after-lives to rue it, and to bemoan the fact that
they had not stayed at home to watch over the young man, and to guard
the golden prize from the band of women who were on the lookout for just
such an opportunity.
Jay Gardiner found just such an ideal boarding-house as he was looking
for. Every woman who came to the village with a marriageable daughter
tried to secure board at that boarding-house, but signally failed.
They never dreamed that the handsome, debonair young millionaire paid
the good landlady an exorbitant price to keep women out.
Good Widow Smith did her duty faithfully.
When Mrs. Pendleton, of New York, heard of the great attraction at Lee,
Massachusetts, she decided that that was the place where she and her two
daughters, Lou and Sally, should spend the summer.
"If either of you girls come home engaged to this millionaire," Mrs.
Pendleton had declared, "I shall consider it the greatest achievement of
my life. True, we live in a fine mansion on Fifth Avenue, and we are
supposed to be very wealthy; but not one of our dear five hundred
friends has discovered that the house we live in is merely rented, nor
that your father's business is mortgaged to the full extent. We will
have a hard time to pull through, and keep up appearances, until you two
are married off."
Mrs. Pendleton established herself at the Summerset House, with her two
daughters. Every Saturday afternoon the pompous old broker went out to
Lee, to make a show for the girls.
"The next question is," said Mrs. Pendleton, after the trunks were
unpacked, and the pretty clothes hung up in the various closets, "which
one of you two will Mr. Gardiner prefer?"
"Me!" said jolly Sally, with a mischievous laugh, complacently gazing at
the lovely face reflected in the mirror.
"It might be as well to wait until after he is introduced to us before
you answer that question," said Lou. "But how are we to meet him?"
"Your father will attend to that part of the business," said Mrs.
Pendleton. "He understands what he has to do, and will find a way to
accomplish it. Having marriageable daughters always sharpens a man's
wits. Your father will find some way to get in with young Mr. Gardiner,
depend upon that."
It required three weeks for Mr. Pendleton to secure an introduction to
the young man. On the following day the two sisters, dressed in their
best, and hanging on their father's arms, paraded up and down the
village streets until they espied the object of their search.
Introductions naturally followed; but, much to the chagrin of the girls,
their father, after chatting for a moment with handsome Mr. Gardiner,
dragged them along.
"I did not have a chance to say one word to him," said Lou,
disappointedly.
"Nor I," said Sally, poutingly.
"Don't make a dead set for a man the first time you see him,"
recommended Mr. Pendleton, grimly. "Take matters easy."
The proudest moment of their lives was when Jay Gardiner called upon
them at their hotel one afternoon. The girls were squabbling up in their
room when his card was handed them.
"Did he say which one of us he wishes to see?" cried Lou, breathlessly.
"The Misses Pendleton," replied the bell-boy.
There was a rush for their best clothes, and an exciting time for the
mother in getting the girls into them.
A moment later, two girls, both pretty as pictures, with their arms
lovingly twined about each other, glided into the parlor. Handsome Jay
turned from the window, thinking to himself that he had never beheld a
fairer picture.
There was half an hour's chat, and then he took his departure. He never
knew why he did it, but he invited them both to drive with him the next
day. Sally was about to answer "yes," delightedly, on the spot; but her
sister, remembering her father's warning, was more diplomatic.
"We will have to ask mamma if we can go," she said.
Mrs. Pendleton, who was passing through the corridor at that moment, was
called in. She and her elder daughter exchanged glances.
"I am sorry," she said, apologetically, "but Sally and I have an
engagement for that afternoon."
The young millionaire fell into the trap at once.
"Then could not Miss Louise accompany me?" he inquired.
"If she cares to go, I really have no objection," said Mrs. Pendleton,
hiding her delight with an arch smile.
When he left, and the two girls had returned to their room, the
stormiest kind of a scene followed.
"Take care! take care!" cautioned Mrs. Pendleton, to Sally. "Your sister
Lou is twenty; you are but eighteen. You should not stand in her way."