This Very Desirable
OLD-WORLD MANSION
Standing in three acres of pleasure grounds
And only requiring certain structural repairs
To be made an ideal modern residence.
F. R. MILLER, Estate Agent, High St., Brooch._

Considering that the house had been gutted nearly twenty years ago, and
had stood as the fire had left it from then until now, the advertisement
was euphemistic.

By dint of peering between the corrupted bars, it was possible to see
for ourselves the desolation. A press of nettles crowded about the
scorched and blackened walls, square gaping mouths, that had been
windows, showed from the light within that there was no roof, while here
and there charred timbers thrust their unsightly way from out of a riot
of brambles, wild and disorderly. What we could see of the garden was a
very wilderness. Tall rank grass flourished on every side, carriage-way
and borders alike had been blotted into a springing waste, and the few
sprawling shrubs which we could recognize hardly emerged from beneath
the choking smother of luxuriant bindweed.

The gates were chained and padlocked. But they were not difficult to
scale, and in a moment Berry and I were over and standing knee-deep in
the long wet grass.

Stealthily we made our way to the back of the house....

The sundial was just visible. The grass of what had once been a trim
lawn rose up about the heavy pedestal, coarse and tumultuous. But it was
untouched. No foot of man or beast had trodden it--lately, at any rate.

Simultaneously we heaved sighs of relief.

Then--

"Adele'll never recognize this," said Berry. "It's hopeless. What she
saw was a lawn, not a prairie." I nodded. "Still," he went on, "there
used to be a door in the wall--on the east side." As he spoke, he turned
and looked sharply at the haggard building. "Thought I heard something,"
he added.

"Did you?"

I swung on my heel, and together we stared and listened. Eyes and ears
alike went unrewarded. The silence of desolation hung like a ragged
pall, gruesome and deathly....

Without a word we passed to the east of the ruin. After a little we came
to the door in the wall. Here was no lock, and with a little patience we
drew the bolts and pulled the door open. It gave on to a little lane,
which ran into the by-road at a point close to where the others were
waiting.

I left Berry and hastened back to the car.

Exclamations of surprise greeted my issuing from the lane, and I could
read the same