Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
By
Edith Van Dyne
Author of "Aunt Jane's Nieces Series" "The Daring Twins," etc.
You will like Mary Louise because she is so much like yourself. Mrs.Van Dyne has succeeded in finding a very human girl for her heroine;Mary Louise is really not a fiction character at all. Perhaps you knowthe author through her "Aunt Jane's Nieces" stories; then you don'tneed to be told that you will want to read all the volumes that will bewritten about lovable Mary Louise. Mrs. Van Dyne is recognized as oneof the most interesting writers for girls to-day. Her success islargely due to the fact that she does not write DOWN to her youngreaders; she realizes that the girl of to-day does not have to bebabied, and that her quick mind is able to appreciate stories that areas well planned and cleverly told as adult fiction.
That is the theory behind "The Bluebird Books." If you are the girl wholikes books of individuality—wholesome without being tiresome, andfull of action without being sensational—then you are just the girlfor whom the series is being written. "Mary Louise" is more than aworthy successor to the "Aunt Jane's Nieces Series"—it has merit whichyou will quickly recognize.
"It's positively cruel!" pouted Jennie Allen, one of a group of girlsoccupying a garden bench in the ample grounds of Miss Stearne's Schoolfor Girls, at Beverly.
"It's worse than that; it's insulting," declared Mable Westervelt, herbig dark eyes flashing indignantly.
"Doesn't it seem to reflect on our characters?" timidly asked Dorothy
Knerr.
"Indeed it does!" asserted Sue Finley. "But here comes Mary Louise;let's ask her opinion."
"Phoo! Mary Louise is only a day scholar," said Jennie. "Therestriction doesn't apply to her at all."
"I'd like to hear what she says, anyhow," remarked Dorothy. "Mary
Louise has a way of untangling things, you know."
"She's rather t