The Story of the Big Front Door

OUTL

to me, ye gal

love mirth

ell you of a

in Notting

Ba

e discovery, and he lost no time i

their cons

? Nonsense, Ikey, you are ma

for King Richard?" cried Bess, sitti

ord!" wailed Louise, shaking her finger at the bringer of evil t

t, hospitable-looking house among the maple trees, that warm August morning. Something serious certainly, for Louise's dimple

he fence," suggested Carl, and, as there se

arm,-and nobody uttered a word till a secluded spot behind Mrs. Ford's syringa bushes was reached, wh

open!" Louise announce

so?" replied Ikey w

am, and dozens of other flowers, had bloomed happily in their season, without any trouble to anybody. In the background sunflowers and hollyhocks grew, and on either side of the front

was bed-ridden, and to the children there was something mysterious about this person who was never seen, but on whose account they were cautioned not to be noisy at their play. After her death the house was left closed and unoccu

more irresistible. Other playgrounds lost their charm to the eyes that looked

s proposed one morning as th

sm, and Ikey listened in silent admiration as t

r favorite stories, but it seemed to Ikey immensely clever; so while the others argued o

ecame Little John, Louise appeared by turns as Allan-a-Dale and the sheriff of Nottingham, and little Helen was occasionally pressed into service as Maid Marian. Who first though

or the

the sh

er, Mrs. Ford, glancing from her window,

corner of the garden, where, under the shelter of a crooked apple tree, the forest rovers had their trysting place, the weather was never too warm. The unoccupied house became transformed into Notti

it was carried on helped to deepen the interest. The climax was

ard that a favorite cousin, a boy about Carl's

ise, when the matter was under discussion, "and we c

carefully laid out at the corner confectionery. Many articles supposed to be necessary to the comfort of the royal guest were sm

hrough at their lost domain. No one had much to say. Bess was gazing sadly at her roll of cambric which was to have done duty as suits of Lincoln green for the foresters, and Ikey was thi

waited while the boys dropped down and disappeared behind the bushes. In a few minutes they came rushing back empty handed, to report tha

ing a good time all to themselves, gathered in sociable groups. The clematis and honeysuckle swung softly in the breeze, making graceful shadows, and the maple trees stretched out long arms and touched each other gently now and then. At th

mily institution, and could not be spared, th

key's, and no one could, on

ok, who was stepping around inside, "they's mischevious of course,

worse than that Ikey Ford! It looks like the children has b

soon over. Look at Miss Zélie: seems like it warn't no time since she was climbin' fences and tearin' her clothes, till I'd get clean discouraged tryin' to keep

ore by Carl than any of the rest

sed to come here for his holidays when she was a little girl no bigger 'n Bess,-that was after Mr. Frank married Miss Elinor,-and t

he continued, "I've nursed 'em all from Mr. William down, and

t air when there was a sudden rush from somewhere and she was surrounded by a laughing, breathless little company. The outlaws of the morning were scarcely to be recognized. Little John and the sheriff of Nottingham were attired in the fr

they drew their chairs as close as possible to hers. At this time in the day she was their o

old Mrs. Brown's was going to take the ho

n with a feather duster. I do hope ther

" Carl add

, aren't they, Ikey?" and Louise looked

iteness, perhaps both, wo

"Being a girl myself, of course I like girls, and so doe

girls!" Carl co

intively, for it was the trial of her life that she was considered too little

Mr. Jackson, the agent, told Frank that it looked as if some one had been camping

ouise opened her mouth and shut it again without saying anything, Carl drummed on the back of his chair with an

ieved the strain. Then presently Louise saw her father and baby Car

that night she was waylaid in the diml

oing out of bed

ng! It is about the Brown house. We have

ace, and we didn't

smile till she had heard the whole story. It had

g?" asked Be

nything, not one b

keep it suc

fun; but I wish we had

w things;" and Bess sighed, relie

t I want you to think about it and decide

fore we told you?"

it to-day," she