Ethel Watts Mumford

“ No wreck of humanity stranded on a park bench in some livid dawn could be more worn, more hopeless-looking, more dreary-eyed.
Panic seized them both. The bride gripped her husband's shoulder convulsively, and with a sense of protection totally uncalled for he swiftly drew her behind him. In a flash the instinctive fear passed. Of what had they been afraid? Of a little old man, diffident, deprecating, and compassionate?
"You came to see the house?" ”

“ Come, Trudy, we'll investigate the rest of the house."
"You will find it all charming, literally charming," said the soft, gray voice. "There isn't a room that won't attract you; there isn't an outlook that won't appeal to you. But, just the same, you can't stay here."
The sheer impertinence shocked the home-seekers into silence. The groom reddened, but the bride went pale. ”

“ My wife was young, my wife was pretty, my wife was gay. She filled the house with music, and the house loved her. Come, I will show you her room, the lovely room that looks out on the water-garden—it is only a pond now, but it was a water-garden then. I'll show you the little boudoir she had done in saffron and rose, like the inside of a shell. I had them put the most pestilential pauper of all in that room!"
Obediently the young people followed the halting steps. Something of the enchantment of the Ancient Mariner held them attentive and breathless. ”

“ They're badly in the hole as it is."
"In the first place," said the former owner grimly, "I intend to punish this house. I intend to cripple it utterly; but, beyond that, I will not expose you or any other honest people to its cunning. I tell you this house is a devil—a living devil. It's a siren, a vampire, a blood-sucking, soul-destroying thing. Oh, I know her! She's not a thing of stones and mortar, wood and plaster. She's got a sort of evil life. ”

“ His pale face was streaked with sudden red, his bony hands were clenched.
"He's mad," thought the husband, and again sought to draw his wife behind him. He had not spoken, but his wife read his thoughts.
"No," she said steadily, "he isn't. Please, Mr. Ford, explain it, will you? We just don't seem to understand. It's strange, you see. We thought the house so lovely. It's so sunny, so gay. Why, any one should be happy here. It's—it's heavenly!"
"Will you come?" With a quivering finger Morton Ford pointed up the graceful stairway to the wide landing above. ”

“ And she is, for you came. And now you know. You think she's nothing but a house; but I know she is a devil, a vampire, a destroyer of body and soul!"
The bride shuddered, and her husband looked down at her, amused. He felt it incumbent upon him to be amused, for he was shaken.
"Well," he said, "that's very interesting, and in a way I think you're right. The house is far too large for us."
The old man smiled. They did not speak again for many minutes.
On the veranda, as they took their leave, the groom condescended to speak more graciously to the old man. ”

“ Can't you imagine the immaculate kitchen blowing back the fumes of cabbage and cheap stews? Can't you understand the hatred of the gardens as wheel-chairs plowed through them, and the weeds invaded them without let or hindrance?
"Oh, I had my vengeance on the house; but she was too clever for me. I couldn't be here to watch her, to checkmate her cunning. She even drove these cattle to extravagance—at least, to what was extravagance for them. ”

“ Ford addressed the bride directly, as if of the two she were the more likely to understand him. "And, as you say, I gave the house for a purpose. The town has not seen fit to continue to use the house as I intended. I did not give it to them to augment the town revenues; it is expressly stated so in my deed of gift. Therefore, if you make it necessary, I shall have to contest the lease."
"But why be a dog in the manger?" the would-be tenant objected. "They can't afford to run it as a workhouse. ”

“ If the rent wasn't so small, it would be out of the question; and we ought to take it on a long lease, anyhow, to make it worth our while. It isn't of any use to the township. Somebody gave it to them for a workhouse, and they got into it before they saw how unpractical it was. They were awfully out of pocket trying to run it. ”

“ Of course, with the whole house to furnish, we couldn't expect to go so fast; but with two gardeners, as you said, and a chauffeur who'd help generally, and a couple—Japanese, I think—a man and wife, and they'll wear their own kimono clothes—they'll look so picturesque, you know! And then we'll put a truck body on Lizette de Fer Blanc, and use her for service, and get a new little car for just us two, and fix up the road for a half-mile or so as you suggested. ”