"If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling’s whole life would have been entirely..."

"When Cousin Stickles knocked at her door, Valancy knew it was half-past seven and she must get up. A..."

"Breakfast was always the same. Oatmeal porridge, which Valancy loathed, toast and tea, and one teasp..."

"“Got your rubbers on?” called Cousin Stickles, as Valancy left the house.Christine Stickles had neve..."

"Of course she must buy the tea in Uncle Benjamin’s grocery-store. To buy it anywhere else was unthin..."

"The ordeal was not so dreadful, after all. Dr. Trent was as gruff and abrupt as usual, but he did no..."

"There was a rosebush on the little Stirling lawn, growing beside the gate. It was called “Doss’s ros..."

"Valancy did not sleep that night. She lay awake all through the long dark hours—thinking—thinking. S..."

"Uncle Herbert and Aunt Alberta’s silver wedding was delicately referred to among the Stirlings durin..."

"“Bless this food to our use and consecrate our lives to Thy service,” said Uncle Herbert briskly.Aun..."

"Meanwhile the dinner in its earlier stages was dragging its slow length along true to Stirling form...."

"Valancy hurried home through the faint blue twilight—hurried too fast perhaps. The attack she had wh..."

"Uncle Benjamin found he had reckoned without his host when he promised so airily to take Valancy to..."

"Life cannot stop because tragedy enters it. Meals must be made ready though a son dies and porches m..."

"“Let us be calm,” said Uncle Benjamin. “Let us be perfectly calm.”“Calm!” Mrs. Frederick wrung her h..."

"Valancy had walked out to Roaring Abel’s house on the Mistawis road under a sky of purple and amber,..."

"When Valancy had lived for a week at Roaring Abel’s she felt as if years had separated her from her..."

"Valancy was acquainted with Barney by now—well acquainted, it seemed, though she had spoken to him o..."

"Of course, the Stirlings had not left the poor maniac alone all this time or refrained from heroic e..."

"When Abel Gay paid Valancy her first month’s wages—which he did promptly, in bills reeking with the..."

"“We’ll just sit here,” said Barney, “and if we think of anything worth while saying we’ll say it. Ot..."

"The next thing the Stirlings heard was that Valancy had been seen with Barney Snaith in a movie thea..."

"On one of Cissy’s wakeful nights, she told Valancy her poor little story. They were sitting by the o..."

"Valancy herself made Cissy ready for burial. No hands but hers should touch that pitiful, wasted lit..."

"On the evening of the day after the funeral Roaring Abel went off for a spree. He had been sober for..."

"The next day passed for Valancy like a dream. She could not make herself or anything she did seem re..."

"Cousin Georgiana came down the lane leading up to her little house. She lived half a mile out of Dee..."

"Summer passed by. The Stirling clan—with the insignificant exception of Cousin Georgiana—had tacitly..."

"Valancy toiled not, neither did she spin. There was really very little work to do. She cooked their..."

"They didn’t spend all their days on the island. They spent more than half of them wandering at will..."

"Autumn came. Late September with cool nights. They had to forsake the verandah; but they kindled a f..."

"New Year. The old, shabby, inglorious outlived calendar came down. The new one went up. January was..."

"Spring. Mistawis black and sullen for a week or two, then flaming in sapphire and turquoise, lilac a..."

"Valancy had two wonderful moments that spring.One day, coming home through the woods, with her arms..."

"Thirty seconds can be very long sometimes. Long enough to work a miracle or a revolution. In thirty..."

"Finally Valancy went to bed. Before she went she re-read Dr. Trent’s letter. It comforted her a litt..."

"Dr. Trent looked at her blankly and fumbled among his recollections.“Er—Miss—Miss—”“Mrs. Snaith,” sa..."

"Valancy walked quickly through the back streets and through Lover’s Lane. She did not want to meet a..."

"She must write a note. The imp in the back of her mind laughed. In every story she had ever read whe..."

"Valancy paused a moment on the porch of the brick house in Elm Street. She felt that she ought to kn..."

"Valancy looked dully about her old room. It, too, was so exactly the same that it seemed almost impo..."

"It was not until early afternoon the next day that a dreadful old car clanked up Elm Street and stop..."

"“But, Barney,” protested Valancy after a few minutes, “your father—somehow—gave me to understand tha..."

"Extract from letter written by Miss Olive Stirling to Mr. Cecil Bruce:“It’s really disgusting that D..."

"Valancy and Barney turned under the mainland pines in the cool dusk of the September night for a far..."