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Show ~bce'i[b ' "''" ($1lb llose anb Stiller "You 'd better drive-l 'm sure the paths aren't broken." So, after luncheon, the two started out with the keys, Madame waving them a cheery good-bye from the window. 04 Everything about this place seems queer to me," said Isabel. "It's the same, and yet not the same." 11 I know," Rose answered. "Things are much smaller, aren't they?" "Yes. The rooms used to be vast and the ceilings very far away. Now, they're merely large rooms with the ceilings comfortably high. fhe garden used to seem like a huge park, but now it's only a large garden. There used t~ be a great many steps in the stairway, and htgh ones at that. Now it's nothing compared wtth other flights. Only Aunt Francesca remains the same. She hasn't changed at all." . "~he's a saint," said Rose with deep convtct! On, as the carriage turned into the driveway. The house, set far back from the street, was of the true Colonial type, with stately white ptllars at the dignified entrance. The garden was a tangled mass of undergrowth-in spite of the snow one could see that-but the hou•e being substantially built, had changed scarce!; at all. "A new coat of paint will freshen it up amaz- 'lllllelcome 'llome ingly," said Rose, as they went up the steps. She was thrilled with a mysterious sense of adventure which the younger woman did not share. "I feel like a burglar," she continued, putting the key into the rusty lock. "I feel cold," remarked Isabel, shivering in her furs. At last the wide door swung on its creaking hinges and they went into the loneliness and misery of an empty house The dust of ages had settled upon everything and penetrated every nook and cranny. The floors groaned dismally, and the scurrying feet of mice echoed through the walls. Cobwebs draped the windows, where the secret spinners had held high carnival, undisturbed. An indescribable musty odour almost stifled them and the chill dampness carried with it a sense of gloom and foreboding. "My goodness!" Isabel exclaimed. "Nobody can ever live here again." "Don't be discouraged," laughed Rose. "Soap, water, sunshine, and fire can accomplish miracles.'' At the end of the hall a black, empty fireplace yawned cavernously. There was another in the living-room and still another in the library back of it. Isabel opened the door on the left. "Why, there's another fireplace in the diningroom," she said. "Do you suppose they have one in the kitchen, too?" '3 ¢0111\•(bl an!) IItntl |
