The Girl Warriors
A BOOK FOR GIRLS
By ADENE WILLIAMS
David C. Cook Publishing Company
ELGIN, ILL.; OR
36 WASHINGTON STREET, CHICAGO.
Copyright, 1901.
By David C. Cook Publishing Company.
A BOOK FOR GIRLS.
By ADENE WILLIAMS.
CHAPTER I.
THE BURTONS.
Winnifred Burtonsat all alone inthe pleasant sitting-room,curled up inan easy-chair solarge that her littlefigure was almostlost in its greatdepths. The fire in the open grate burnedbrightly, sending out little tongues offlame which made dancing shadows on thewalls and ceiling, and flashed ever andanon on the bright hair and face and dressof the little girl sitting so quiet before it.
It was a dismal day near the close ofJanuary. Snow had been falling steadilyall day, and the window-sill was alreadypiled so high with it that by and by itwould have to be brushed away in orderto close the shutters. But Winnifred wasso absorbed in the book she was readingthat she knew nothing of all this. Thebook was a new edition of "The GiantKiller; or, The Battle That All MustFight." She was just reading how thebrave but tempted Fides lay in the dreadfulPit of Despair; of how he had fallenback, bruised and bleeding, time aftertime, in his endeavors to cut and climb hisway out, before he found the little cord oflove which was strong enough to drawhim out with scarcely an effort of hisown.
Twilight was fast closing in around thelittle reader, and all the letters on the pagewere beginning to dance up and down.Impatiently shaking herself, Winnifredslipped down from her chair, gave the firea little poke, and settled herself on thefloor in front of it, holding the book sothat she could see to read by the flickeringlight. But she had scarcely begun to doso, when the door opened. She gave alittle jump, and turned quite red in theface.
But it was only her little brother Ralph,who said: "'Innie, mamma says if 'oohave 'oor lessons done, 'ou'se to come outand set the table for supper."
Her lessons done! Winnie glanced at thepile of books lying on the table by thewindow. Yes, there they all were—hergeography, history, grammar, arithmetic.When now would she have time to learnthose lessons? And she felt that she hadbeen dishonest, too, because her mother would perhaps have had something elsefor her to do, if she had not supposed shewas studying hard. However, there wasno help for it now, and with a rueful faceshe left the room.
Mrs. Burton was in the kitchen, so thatWinnie escaped being questioned, but justnow she was taking herself to task, for shehad a very guilty conscience, and was wonderingwhen she was going to begin fightingher giants. She knew only too wellwhat one of them was, and she knew alsothat if she could not find time to learnthose lessons, another punishment besidethe stings of her conscience would awaither on the morrow.
But presently her father and