Chapter 1 12'Looks like it. Thought you might be walking out today'; and Tom's jovial face beamed with pleasure.'You knew it. How is your throat?' asked Nan in her professional tone, which was always a quencher to undueraptures.'Throat? Oh, ah! yes, I remember. It is well. The effect of that prescription was wonderful. I'll never callhomoeopathy a humbug again.''You were the humbug this time, and so were the unmedicated pellets I gave you. If sugar or milk can curediphtheria in this remarkable manner, I'll make a note of it. O Tom, Tom, will you never be done playingtricks?''O Nan, Nan, will you never be done getting the better of me?' And the merry pair laughed at one another justas they did in the old times, which always came back freshly when they went to Plumfield.'Well, I knew I shouldn't see you for a week if I didn't scare up some excuse for a call at the office. You are sodesperately busy all the time I never get a word,' explained Tom.'You ought to be busy too, and above such nonsense. Really, Tom, if you don't give your mind to yourlectures, you'll never get on,' said Nan soberly.'I have quite enough of them as it is,' answered Tom with an air of disgust. 'A fellow must lark a bit afterdissecting corpuses all day. I can't stand it long at a time, though some people seem to enjoy it immensely.''Then why not leave it, and do what suits you better? I always thought it a foolish thing, you know,' said Nan,with a trace of anxiety in the keen eyes that searched for signs of illness in a face as ruddy as a Baldwin apple.'You know why I chose it, and why I shall stick to it if it kills me. I may not look delicate, but I've adeep-seated heart complaint, and it will carry me off sooner or later; for only one doctor in the world can cureit, and she won't.'There was an air of pensive resignation about Tom that was both comic and pathetic; for he was in earnest,and kept on giving hints of this sort, without the least encouragement.Nan frowned; but she was used to it, and knew how to treat him.'She is curing it in the best and only way; but a more refractory patient never lived. Did you go to that ball, asI directed?''I did.''And devote yourself to pretty Miss West?''Danced with her the whole evening.''No impression made on that susceptible organ of yours?''Not the slightest. I gaped in her face once, forgot to feed her, and gave a sigh of relief when I handed her overto her mamma.''Repeat the dose as often as possible, and note the symptoms. I predict that you'll "cry for it" by and by.'
Chapter 1 13'Never! I'm sure it doesn't suit my constitution.''We shall see. Obey orders!' sternly.'Yes, Doctor,' meekly.Silence reigned for a moment; then, as if the bone of contention was forgotten in the pleasant recollectionscalled up by familiar objects, Nan said suddenly:'What fun we used to have in that wood! Do you remember how you tumbled out of the big nut-tree andnearly <strong>br</strong>oke your collar-bones?''Don't I! and how you steeped me in wormwood till I was a fine mahogany colour, and Aunt Jo wailed overmy spoilt jacket,' laughed Tom, a boy again in a minute.'And how you set the house afire?''And you ran off for your band-box?''Do you ever say "Thunder-turtles" now?''Do people ever call you "Giddy-gaddy"?''Daisy does. Dear thing, I haven't seen her for a week.''I saw Demi this morning, and he said she was keeping house for Mother Bhaer.''She always does when Aunt Jo gets into a vortex. Daisy is a model housekeeper; and you couldn't do betterthan make your bow to her, if you can't go to work and wait till you are grown up before you begin lovering.''Nat would <strong>br</strong>eak his fiddle over my head if I suggested such a thing. No, thank you. Another name isengraved upon my heart as indelibly as the blue anchor on my arm. "Hope" is my motto, and "No surrender",yours; see who will hold out longest.''You silly boys think we must pair off as we did when children; but we shall do nothing of the kind. How wellParnassus looks from here!' said Nan, a<strong>br</strong>uptly changing the conversation again.'It is a fine house; but I love old Plum best. Wouldn't Aunt March stare if she could see the changes here?'answered Tom, as they both paused at the great gate to look at the pleasant landscape before them.A sudden whoop startled them, as a long boy with a wild yellow head came leaping over a hedge like akangaroo, followed by a slender girl, who stuck in the hawthorn, and sat there laughing like a witch. A prettylittle lass she was, with curly dark hair, <strong>br</strong>ight eyes, and a very expressive face. Her hat was at her back, andher skirts a good deal the worse for the <strong>br</strong>ooks she had crossed, the trees she had climbed, and the last leap,which added several fine rents.'Take me down, Nan, please. Tom, hold Ted; he's got my book, and I will have it,' called Josie from her perch,not at all daunted by the appearance of her friends.Tom promptly collared the thief, while Nan picked Josie from among the thorns and set her on her feetwithout a word of reproof; for having been a romp in her own girlhood, she was very indulgent to like tastesin others. 'What's the matter, dear?' she asked, pinning up the longest rip, while Josie examined the scratches
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Chapter 7 62The sea air seemed to h
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Chapter 7 64everyone when all is in
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Chapter 7 66'He is growing up, hear
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Chapter 8 68answered Ted, pulling h
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Chapter 8 70excitedly:'There she is
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Chapter 8 72'Run over the beach and
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Chapter 8 74'Oh, I don't think I'm
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Chapter 9 76Josie wrote reams to he
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Chapter 9 78finding it nice and coo
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Chapter 9 80'A common-sense view of
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Chapter 9 82burns warm and clear fo
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Chapter 10 84'Mother dear, I think
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Chapter 10 86Mrs Meg actually blush
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Chapter 11 88'That's nothing; it's
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Chapter 11 90not last long, and hel
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Chapter 12 92Chapter 12DAN'S CHRIST
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Chapter 12 94or those still later a
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Chapter 13 96brewing, and fear that
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Chapter 13 98The sum placed at his
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Chapter 13 100impulse was to seek h
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Chapter 14 102would prove that trut
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Chapter 14 104And in slouched a deg
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Chapter 14 106wounded hero, with bl
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Chapter 15 108One can easily imagin
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Chapter 15 110Franz and Emil being
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Chapter 16 112Josie was about to si
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Chapter 16 114which he answered, wi
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Chapter 16 116'I'm going to talk to
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Chapter 17 118satisfied, and said,
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Chapter 17 120'Cultivate cheerfulne
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Chapter 17 122splendid to know that
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Chapter 18 124of the poor, better t
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Chapter 18 128'And it was, my dear,
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Chapter 19 130'You are very kind, c
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Chapter 19 132Alice did not hear wh
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Chapter 19 134my head spin with Kan
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Chapter 20 136Josie had a month wit
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Chapter 20 138and Ted, finding his
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Chapter 20 140other big bug in the
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Chapter 21 142the poor fellow often
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Chapter 21 144Froda, and the fair d
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Chapter 22 148'Forgive him, Bess. H
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Chapter 22 150'I knew I should get
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Chapter 22 152'I thought the seed h