Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-08-13
STORY OF THE
BABBLING WOOD
By MARGARET SWEENEY

20. 1924. Mcclure Newspo per syndicate)

acre lot, eight-roOm house and good
barn No improvements but it's
worth double the askin price-one of
the best-built houses in Larchdale."
The woman the prospective buyer,
was silent. From her seat in the car
she scanned the little white house
that was for sale. She was a slender
woman-young, dark and dignified.
With her minds eye she saw crisp
curtains behind the small, dingy
squares of window glass, and lilacS-
lilacs a-bloom ON the leadess bush be-
side the neglected doorway; and upon
the lawn, beneath magnificent elm
tree, she saw her two small sons at
play.
The agents wise old eyes, with
swift appraisal, were measuring the
woman. "Will she buy?" he wondered.
probably not. Women never know
just what they waut-they like to
poke around This one doesn't look
like Il ady money Her black coat
looks shabby. Yet, she must have
money or she wouldn't start out to
look 1T even this old shack. A widow,
no doubt. Wen, anyway, she's a real
lady-that's easily seen"
Having thus listed the lady, the vii
Iase real estate man, gray fifty and
horid, resumed his business
mo country house looks its best in
March. In three or four weeks from
now, when the trees are green, this
place will look a hundred per cent
better. 1t is worth five thousand dol
lars if it's worth dollar, and all
they're askn' is"
"Who did you say owns the placer"
the lady inquired.
at belongs to the Crumper estate
stephen Crumper's grandfather built
that house, and it is good for another
hundred years. The Crumpers were
lumbermen and you-you may be sure
that the best lumber in the land went
into the building of It,"
The agent as he spoke, had turned
his car into the driveway, and the lady
noticed that under the light layer of
snow upon the path there was a thick
tangle of withered weeds and bram-
bleS.
The house has been long time
vacant, has it not?"
"Well, no, not so very" The agent
assisted the lady to alight, 1.-THE
house is in fine condition, all newly
papered and-and-"
He had begun to tumble with a key
that refused to turn in the rusty lock-
the lady, while she waited peered
wistfully through the murky windows.
The rooms looked inviting. The
quaint white panels and the low cell
ings made a strong appeal to the heart
of this homequesting woman; so did
the open treplaces and the broad
planks of the old floors, upon which
lay the morning sunshine
at is charming" the lady told her
self, "and the price-the price is as
tonishingly low. The house has mar
velOus possibilities"
And again, before her minds eye,
pictures began to form-freS were
tracking upon the hearths hand
woven rugs lay upon the broad planks
stanch chairs and tables dark and
time-polished stood about-there were
| books, books everywhere, and before
a cracking fire there were two small
| boys, listening entranced, to a lady
| reading stories from a Wonder Book.
"All right, madam"-the agent had
! succeeded in opening the doOr-"all
| right madam" he called again. With
little start the lady turned from the
! window and entered the old house and,
presently, as she tip-toed about timid-
| ly opening chimney cupboards, she he
| came strangely troubled.
| An ineXplicable feeling-a sickening
| fear-had taken possession of her. She
had become dimly aware that the
agents raucous voice had fallen to a
whisper,
"Why," she asked herself, 'why
this inward agitation-this throbbing
| pulse, this choking sensation, this
sudden anxiety to get out-out into
the sunshine? Has old wood-wood
dead for more than century-the
power toto put my soul into tur-
MOL? Has"
You'll like the upstairs rooms,
madam" the agent whispered as he
paused at the foot of the narrow stair
way; there's fine view from every
window, and there's"
NO, no, thank you. The house is
is not just what I am looking for.
L"
The ancient door stood ajar and the
lady, with feeling of relief-a sense
of having escaped something, she
knew not what-hastily left the house
The short ride back to the station
was begun and ended in silence; the
agent disappointed - his morning
wasted; the lady perpleXed her mind
| cropping for a cauSe-a reason for the
fear that had clutched her the mo-
ment that she had entered the old