"
"Don't!" pleaded Amy, the timid one, shivering in spite of herself.
"You know that old mansion, at the far end of the valley; don't you?"
asked Mr. Lagg. "At least, you must have heard about it."
"You mean Kenyon's Folly?" responded Mollie, who began to have a
glimmering of what was meant.
"Yes," answered the storekeeper. "Mr. Kenyon, who was once a
millionaire, built that mansion after ideas of his own. Everyone said
Shadow Valley--at least that part of it--was too gloomy and out of the
way to be a good place for a mansion like that, and the folks around
here said it was foolish. They called it Kenyon's Folly from the start,
though he named it Kenyon's Woodland Lodge, or some such fancy name as
that."
"And did it turn out as the people said?" asked Amy.
"Yes," answered Mr. Lagg. "From the very first his wife took a dislike
to the place. She said it was too gloomy, and in spite of a lot of
entertainments and parties--elaborate affairs they were, too--life there
was dreary. They had lots of company, but Shadow Valley seemed to cast a
gloom over the big mansion.
"Then Mr. Kenyon died, and some said it was partly due to grief over the
fact that his wife refused to live in the place. At any rate, he closed
it up, and went abroad, I believe, not living long after he started to
tour Europe.
"Then there was trouble over his will, his whole estate was thrown into
court, and the heirs fought and squabbled over the mansion, as well as
over the rest of his possessions.
Pages:
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60