CHAPTER I.
It seems inexcusable to remind the public that one has written a book.
Poppa says I ought not to feel that way about it--that he might just as well be shy about referring to the baking soda that he himself invented--but I do, and it is with every apology that I mention it.

I once had such a good time in England that I printed my experiences, and at the very end of the volume it seemed necessary to admit that I was engaged to Mr.Arthur Greenleaf Page, of Yale College, Connecticut.

I remember thinking this was indiscreet at the time, but I felt compelled to bow to the requirements of fiction.

I was my own heroine, and I had to be disposed of.

There seemed to be no alternative.