erfectly reasonable answer, and the others were
reassured, moreover, to a company of five, nothing was likely to happen,
they thought, and the spirit of adventure was high in the breast of more
than one.

"We'd better start right along," suggested Reliance, "for I have to be
back, and Edna mustn't stay out after dark."

"Then, come along, all that want to go," cried Esther Ann, taking the
lead.

Off they started down the wide street bordered by maples, now shorn of
their leaves, but furnishing a carpet of yellow underfoot, past the
church, the store, the schoolhouse and on to the old brown house sitting
back behind an orchard of gnarled, crooked apple trees. The place was
all grown up with weeds, though here and there were signs of a former
garden. Up the rotting pillars of the porch a woodbine still clambered,
and around the door, lilac bushes kept their green.

Though she had come thus far without mishap, Alcinda's courage suddenly
failed her and she turned and ran.

"'Fraid cat! 'Fraid cat!" called Esther Ann after her.

This had the effect of arresting Alcinda in her flight and she stood
still.

"Come on," cried Esther Ann.

"I don't want to," called back Alcinda. "I'll wait out here for you."

"You don't know what you're missing," Esther Ann called back, trying
once more to persuade her.

"I'll wait for you here," repeated Alcinda taking up her position on the
horse block by the gate.

"All right," responded Esther Ann, and opened the door which gave easily
as she turned the knob.

The four little girls found themselves in a dingy kitchen whose
belongings remained as they had been left years before. Cobwebs hung
from the ceiling; dust was everywhere. The stove rusty and falling to
pieces, still held one or two pots and pans. There was crockery on the
dresser, and a lamp on the table.

Esther Ann led the way to the next room. "I don't think this one is a
bit interesting," she made the remark as she penetrated further.

"Do you think we ought to go?" whispered Edna to Reliance, as these two
lagged a little in the rear.

"Why not? Anyone can come in if it belongs to no one, and they say it
doesn't belong to a soul. Nobody lives here and why haven't we a right
as well as the rest of the world?"

This argument satisfied Edna and she followed along through the deserted
rooms, catching sight of a moth-eaten cover here, a bunch of withered
flowers there. Books, long untouched, lay half open on a table