are so many dangerous
places in it."

"Oh, you mean the forbidden rooms," said Jackie; "we don't go into those
now. There are three of them, where the floor's given way, you know,
with great holes in them. Maskells is _such_ a jolly place," he added
pleadingly; "we don't like any other half so well."

"You say Fraulein is going?" said Mrs Vallance.

"Yes, and Rice, too; but they won't be in the way, because Fraulein's
going to sketch, and Rice will have to be with the little ones."

"I hope they _will_ be in the way," replied Mrs Vallance, "and prevent
you heedless children climbing about in unsafe places and breaking your
limbs."

"Then Mary may go? And we start _punctually_ at nine, so she mustn't be
late."

Consent once given, Jackie took his departure, and his stout
knickerbockered legs were soon out of sight.

Mary was delighted, for Maskells was the most charming place possible to
spend a day in, and the prospect of going there made her forget for a
time the one subject which had lately filled her mind--herself.

Maskells was a deserted house standing near the high-road between the
White House and Dorminster; it had once been a place of some
consequence, and still had pleasant meadows round it, sloping down to a
river at the back; but the garden and orchard were tangled and
neglected--much more interesting, the children thought, than if they had
been properly cared for.

The house had two projecting wings, and quaint latticed windows;
outside, it had the appearance of being in tolerable repair, but there
was in truth scarcely a whole room in it, floors and ceilings had given
way, and great rifts and gaps yawned in them. The rotten old staircases
were all the more dangerous because they still looked firm enough to
bear a light weight, and though Jackie had once crawled up to the top of
one, out on to the roof, the attempt was never repeated. He had
remained there for half an hour clinging on to the side of a tall
chimney, unable to move, until a farmer had fetched a ladder and got him
down. Since then staircases and upper rooms had been forbidden, and the
children had to content themselves with playing on the ground floor and
in the outhouses. There was a mystery hanging about the old place which
added to its attractions, for they had heard that it had fallen into
this decay and been uninhabited so long because it was "in Chancery." A
mysterious expression, which might mean anything, and was mor