Contrary Mary

Mary, Constance and Barry Ballard are siblings living together in an old Washington, D.C. home. Marriage will soon take Constance away, leaving her sister and brother to decide: close up the old house or take in a boarder? Mary boldly chooses to rent a suite of rooms to a gentleman stranger.

Chapter# / Title

• Dedication
• 1: In Which Silken Ladies Ascend One Stairway, and a Lonely Wayfarer Ascends Another and Comes Face to Face With Old Friends
• 2: In Which Rose-Leaves and Old Slippers Speed a Happy Pair; and in Which Sweet and Twenty Speaks a New and Modern Language, and Gives a Reason for Renting a Gentleman's Library
• 3: In Which a Lonely Wayfarer Becomes Monarch of All He Surveys; and in Which One Who Might Have Been Presented as the Hero of This Tale is Forced, Through No Fault of His Own, to Take His Chances With the Rest
• 4: In Which a Little Bronze Boy Grins in the Dark; and in Which Mary Forgets That There is Any One Else in the House
• 5: In Which Roger Remembers a Face and Delilah Remembers a Voice--and in Which a Poem and a Pussy Cat Play an Important Part
• 6: In Which Mary Brings Christmas to the Tower Rooms; and in Which Roger Declines a Privilege for Which Porter Pleads
• 7: In Which Aunt Frances Speaks of Matrimony as a Fixed Institution and is Met by Flaming Arguments; and in Which a Strange Voice Sings Upon the Stairs
• 8: In Which Little-Lovely Leila Sees a Picture in an Unexpected Place; and in Which Perfect Faith Speaks Triumphantly Over the Telephone
• 9: In Which Roger Sallies Forth in the Service of a Damsel in Distress and in Which He Meets Dragons Along the Way
• 10: In Which a Scarlet Flower Blooms in the Garden; and in Which a Light Flares Later in the Tower
• 11: In Which Roger Writes a Letter; and in Which a Rose Blooms Upon the Pages of a Book
• 12: In Which Mary and Roger Have Their Hour; and in Which a Tea-Drinking Ends in What Might Have Been a Tragedy
• 13: In Which the Whole World is at Sixes and Sevens, and in Which Life is Looked Upon as a Great Adventure
• 14: In Which Mary Writes From the Tower Rooms; and in Which Roger Answers From Among the Pines
• 15: In Which Barry and Leila Go Over the Hills and Far Away; and in Which a March Moon Becomes a Honeymoon
• 16: In Which a Long Name is Bestowed Upon a Beautiful Baby; and in Which a Letter in a Long Envelope Brings Freedom to Mary
• 17: In Which an Artist Finds What All His Life He Has Been Looking For; and in Which He Speaks of a Little Saint in Red
• 18: In Which Mary Writes of the Workaday World, and in Which Roger Writes of the Dreams of a Boy
• 19: In Which Porter Plants an Evil Seed Which Grows and Flourishes; and in Which Ghosts Rise and Confront Mary
• 20: In Which Mary Faces the Winter of Her Discontent; and in Which Delilah Sees Things in a Crystal Ball
• 21: In Which a Little Lady in Black Comes to Washington to Witness the Swearing-in of a Gentleman and a Scholar
• 22: In Which the Garden Begins to Bloom; and in Which Roger Dreams
• 23: In Which Little-Lovely Leila Looks Forward to the Month of May; and in Which Barry Rides Into a Town With Narrow Streets
• 24: In Which Roger Comes Once More to the Tower Rooms; and in Which a Duel is Fought in Modern Fashion
• 25: In Which Mary Bids Farewell to the Old Life; and in Which She Finds Happiness on the High Seas
• 26: In Which a Strange Craft Anchors in a Sea of Emerald Light; and in Which Mocking-Birds Sing in the Moonlight