GRANTLY
Since our girls were to become quite intimate with the peculiar old
sisters and their home, perhaps it would be just as well for me to give
my readers some idea of what Grantly was like.
The first thing that struck a visitor was the wonderful box bushes in
the hedge enclosing the yard and in a labyrinth in the garden. These
bushes were so thick that one could really walk on the tops of them if
they were kept clipped, which they were not. In the labyrinth the
bushes met overhead and even after a heavy rain the paths between were
perfectly dry. It took days of soaking rain to make those winding paths
wet. Beyond the labyrinth was an old-fashioned garden, but now in
October chrysanthemums and late roses and cosmos were all that was left
of the riot of color that could be seen there during the spring and
summer.
The house was of a very peculiar architectural design: a long, low body
with a tower at each end. In each tower was a square room with many
windows overlooking the country for miles around. Miss Ella claimed one
of these rooms as her own especial property; Miss Louise the other. To
approach Miss Ella's sanctum sanctorum it was necessary to climb a
narrow spiral stairway; Miss Louise's was more accessible by reason of
a broad stairway of many landings, but the ceilings at the landings
were so low that anyone of ordinary stature must stoop to ascend.
These rooms were used only as sitting-rooms by the erratic sisters as,
strange to say, the two old ladies slept in the same room and in the
same great four-posted tester bed. There were many other bedrooms in the
mansion, but they both preferred the great chamber leading from the
parlor, and there they slept and no doubt quarreled in their sleep.
"This is my sitting-room up here," said Miss Ella as she showed her
guests over the quaint old house. "You may come up if you like. I had
the steps made this way so Louise can't get up here and worry my soul
out of me with her eternal chatter. She's too fat for the spiral
stairway. Elephant!"
"Yes, and my sitting-room is in the other tower, and thank goodness,
Ella would find it a back-breaking job to get up my steps," retaliated
Miss Louise. "Giraffe!"
Those strange old ladies had actually had the original steps to the
towers changed to suit their particular grouches! They really spent very
little time in their tower fastnesses, however, as they were much
happier when together and quarreling.
A tale was told in the neighborhood that once Miss Ella had neglected or
forgotten to contradict Miss Louise on some vital subject such as
whether it was or was not going to rain, and Miss Louise was so uneasy
that she sent post haste for Dr. Allison.
"I was afraid it was a stroke or something," whimpered Miss Louise. She
worried herself into a sick headache before the doctor arrived, and
then the fat one had to go to bed and take the medicine and Miss Ella
was forced to repent of her misbehavior by nursing her sister. Dr.
Allison left strict injunctions that she was not to worry her poor
sister again by agreeing with her.
Grantly was filled with fine old furniture and all kinds of curios. A
great-uncle had been a traveler in the Orient and many were the
teakwood cabinets and jade ornaments; curious Japanese prints; Chinese
embroidered fans and screens; bronze Buddhas; rare vases with inlaid
flowers and birds; Toby jugs and lacquered teapots; quaint armor, swords
and daggers; everything in fact that might be found in an old house that
a traveler had once called home.
"Does Tempy dust all these beautiful things?" asked Mrs. Carter, who was
quite carried away by the wonders in her landladies' home.
"Bless you, no! She doesn't dare to touch a one of them," laughed Miss
Louise. "Ella dusts the high ones, I dust the low." She said it quite
with the air of the song:
"You take the high road,
I'll take the low."
With all of its beauties, Grantly was undergoing a process of slow
decay. Lack of paint and neglected leaks were getting in their insidious
work. There never seemed to be money enough for the owners to afford the
needed repairs, and if there ever was any money at all, they could never
come to an agreement on which repairs were the most urgent.
The overseer's house was suffering in the same way. A kind of dry rot
had attacked portions of it. Weather-boarding was so loose in places
that Bobby could pull it off. Steps groaned and floors creaked; shutters
had lost fastenings; putty had dropped from the window panes, which were
insecurely held in place with tacks; mop-boarding and floors had parted
company many years before. All of these little details had escaped the
inexperienced eyes of Douglas and Helen when they decided that this
was the place of all others to spend the winter. Dr. Wright, who had
accompanied them, had been more noticing, but had wisely decided to say
nothing, as he wanted his patient to become interested in tinkering at
small jobs, and he could see that this little farm would keep Mr. Carter
busy.
The ladies of Grantly had promised to have everything in order before
the tenants should arrive, but disagreeing on which workman they should
employ, the time had slipped by and nothing had been done.
The pump to the well had lost its sucker and had to be primed before
water could be got. This meant that the person who pumped must remember
to fill a can of water and leave it for the next pumper. The yard gate
shut with difficulty and opened with more. The stovepipe in the kitchen
had a large hole in one side and if the wind shifted, so did the smoke,
seeking an outlet through the nearest aperture.
All of these disagreeable features dawned gradually on our girls. They
saw nothing to be complained of in those rare October days. Accustomed
as they had become to camp life, they made light of any inconveniences.
Their father was happy and getting better every day, so any small
hardships that might fall to their share were to be lightly borne.