ed from her tone.

"Well, we don't often open that door, anyway," she reflected aloud, "so
I guess no harm's done. It's a full year since anybody's come to the
front door, an' like as not 'twill be another before--"

A jangling sound cut short the sentence.

"What's that?" exclaimed she aghast.

"It's a bell."

"I never heard a bell like that in this house."

"It's a bell I rigged up one day when you were gone to the Junction,"
exclaimed Willie hurriedly. "I thought I told you about it."

"You didn't."

"Well, no matter now," he went on soothingly.

"I meant to."

"Where is it?" demanded Celestina.

"It's in the hall. It's a new front-door bell, that's what it is,"
proclaimed the inventor, his voice lost in a second deafening peal.

"My soul! It's enough to wake the dead!" gasped Celestina, with hands
on her ears. "I should think it could be heard from here to Nantucket.
What set you gettin' a bell that size, Willie? 'Twould scare any
caller who dared to come this way out of a year's growth. I'll have to
go an' see who's there, if he ain't been struck dumb on the doorsill.
Who ever can it be--comin' to the front door?"

With perturbed expectancy she hurried through the passageway, Willie
tagging at her heels.

The infrequently patronized portal of the Spence mansion, it proved,
was so securely barred and bolted that to unfasten it necessitated no
little time and patience; even after locks and fastenings had been
withdrawn and the door was at liberty to move, not knowing what to do
with its unaccustomed freedom it refused to stir, stubbornly resisting
every attempt to wrench its hinges asunder. It was not until the man
and woman inside had combined their efforts and struggled with it for
quite an interval that it contrived to creak apart far enough to reveal
through a four-inch crack the figure of a young man who was standing
patiently outside.

One could not have asked for a franker, merrier face than that which
peered at Celestina through the narrow chink of sunshine. To judge at
random the visitor had come into his manhood recently, for the brown
eyes were alight with youthful humor and the shoulders unbowed by the
burdens of the world. He had a mass of wavy, dark hair; a thoughtful
brow; ruddy color; a pleasant mouth and fine teeth; and a tall, erect
figure which he bore with easy grace.

"Is Miss Morton at home?" he asked, smiling at Celestina through the
shaft of golden light.

Cele