The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-13
Copyright, iss by Bachelor johnson an Baahelisr

checSe-Ioom was certainly the last
room in the house. and the little green
door was in the rear wall. 1t was very
strange. When Letitia asked her
Great-aunt Peggy to explain that, she
only got the same answer:
1t is not best for you to know, my
dear"
Letitia studied the little green door
more than She studied her lesson-books
but she never got any nearer the solu-
ton of the mystery, until one Sunday
morning in January. IL was a very cold
day. and she had begged hard to stay
home from church. Her Aunt Peggy
and her maid-servant, old as they We're
were going, but Letitia shivered and
coughed a little and pleaded, and final
ly had her own way.
But you must sit down quietly,
charged Aunt Peggy, and you must
learn your texts. To repeat to me when
get hime."
After Aun. Peggy ana the Old ser
want. in their great cloakS and bOnnetS
and fur tiDDets, had gone out Of the
yard and down the road letitia sat
quiet for fifteen minutes or SO, hunting
in the Bible for four easy texts, then
suddenly she thought of the little green
door. and wondered. as she had done
sibly BE- opened. She laid down her
Bible and stole out through the kitchen
to the cheese-rOom and tried the door
Ii was locked as usual "Oh, dear"
sighed Letitia, and was ready TO cry
1t seemed to her that this little green
door was the very worst of all her
trials: that she would rather open that
and see What was beyond than have
all the nice things she wanted and had
tC do without
Suddenly she thought oi a little SATIN
wood box with a picture On the lid
which Aunt Peggy kept in her top bu-
reau drawer Letitia had often seen
this box. but had never been allowed to
open it.
Il wonder if the key can be in that
box" said she.
She did not wait Il minnie. She was
SO naughty that she dared not wait, for
fear she should remember that she
ought to be good. She ran out of the
cheeseroom. through the kitchen and
the sitting ROOM. to her aunt's bed
room, and opened the bureau drawer.
and then the satin wood box. 1t con-
tained some bits Of old lace. an old
brooch, a yellow letter. some other
things which she did not examine. and,
sure enough. a little black key on a
green ribbon. Lettia had not a doubt
that II was the key of the little green
door She trembled all over. she painted
for breath. SHE was so frightened. but
she did not hesitate. She took the key
and ran back to the cheeSe-room. She
did not stop to shut the tin-wOod
box or the bureau-drawer. She was so
cold. and her hands shook SO that she
had some difficulty in fitting the key
into the lock of the little green door:
but at last she succeeded, and turned it
quite easily. Then. for second, she
hesitated: she was almost afraid to
open the door: she put her hand on the
latch and drew il back. 1t seemed to
her too that she heard strange. alarm
ing sounds on the other side. Finally,
with a great effort of her will. she un-
latched the little green door and flung
IL open and ran out
Then she gave a scream of surprise
and terror. and stood still. staring. She
did not dare stir or breathe. She was
not in the open fields which had always
been behind the house. She was in the
midst of a gloomy forest of trees so tall
that she could jus: see the wintry sky
through their tops She was hemmed
in, too. by Il wide heaping underground
of bushes and brambles, all stiff with
and CHASTITY about the forest. which had
| the brea:hless odor of a cellar. And
suddenly Letitia heard again those
strange sounds she had heard before
coming out. and she knew that they
We're the savage whoops of Indians. just
as she had read about them in her his
tory-hook. and she also saw dark forms
skulking about behind the trees. as she
had read.
Then Letitia, wild with fright, turned
to run back into the house through the
little green door. but there was no little
green door. and. more than that, there
was no house. Nothing was to be seen
but the forest and le-path leading
through il.
Lettia gasped. She could not, believe
her eyes. She plunged out into the
path and down it Il little way. hut there
| was no house. The dreadful yells
sounded nearer. She looked wildly at
the underground beside the path. Won
dering if she could hide under that,
when suddenly she heard gun-shot
| and the tramp Of horses feet. She