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Show GAVEN HOUSE CHAPTER I As the Studebaker rolled down the dirt road, Penny Standish peered out of the window curiously and wondered if she was going to like her new surroundings. The dirt road was uneven and the tires of the car rumbled as they passed over the bumps and crevices. She glanced at her sister, Vicky, sitting beside her in the back seat and then at her parents, but did not say anything. Then she looked down at the little dog nestled between them on the leather seat. Dixie's little head was resting on Penny's lap and she was sound asleep. She was a little mongrel of no particular breed, but one might hazard a guess that she was a mixture of cocker spaniel and fox terrier, with one white ear and one brown. Her small body was covered with curly white hair and splotched with brown spots. Penny again looked out of the window. There were no other houses along side of the road, just big old Eucalyptus and Oak trees, and the rolling hills that stretched as far as she could see. As dusk was coming on, the shadows of evening seemed to give the hills the appearance of hunch-backed old men outlined against the sky. Along side of the road the tall grasses swayed in the wind and the mists sweeping in from the ocean, which was not more than a mile or so away, clung to each blade, casting a silvery sheen over them. Suddenly, straight ahead, they could see a house almost hidden by the unkempt schrubs and trees. Strange as it may seem, the road stopped abruptly where the tall iron fence surrounding it began. Penny could not remember ever seeing such a high fence before, even in San Francisco where they were common around the old Victorian houses. It was a maze of delicately wrought floral patterns, hearts and spirals and the entire length of it was topped by spear points. The house loomed huge before them and its great gables were etched vividly against the evening sky. To the two young girls it seemed incredibly |