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Show - 3^ - CHAPTER V The leaves of the old maple trees were turning golden and the crisp-ness of their texture confirmed that fall had arrived; some were red and others bronze in color. The old lilac bushes were starting to turn a burnt orange in appearance. Stretches of lawn outside the house were now golden brown, and masses of fallen leaves covered large areas. In the early morning hours when the girls walked down the road to wait for the school bus they could feel the bite in the air and see the frost on the vines. Now that school was back in full swing they would be quite busy with activities and home work, but they were still determined to pursue the mystery of the ghost of Gaven House. "Let's go up to the attic Saturday afternoon," said Penny. "There won't be too much to do around the house." At that moment the bus came rattling down the road and the girls began running to catch up with it. "Let's do," answered Vicky, as she jumped up the step into the bus. "These old stairs are pretty shakeyr,^ exclaimed Vicky as they climbed them up to the attic the following Saturday afternoon. The cleaning and restoring of the house had been completed in the lower part, but the attic had been left as it was. Partly, because of the multitude of long discarded furnishings, pictures, books, magazines, old clothes and steamer trunks lining the side of one wall. Also, because the Standish's felt reluctant to disturb the belongings of the Gaven family. Perhaps some day they would endeavor to clean up the hodge-podge of accumulation strewn all over the area. The attic was very large. It covered the entire upper area of the house, and the gables protruded out from the main floor space. There was a 3mall door that opened on a narrow staircase leading up to the cupola. |
