Suddenly, in a small clearing, they came upon the house. In the uncertain light it seemed enormous, shapeless and beyond all words repelling. It seemed to have a personality, defiant and forbidding, that warned of mystery and disaster. Aspen trees, tall and gaunt, grew so close that their whispering leaves brushed the windows, and crowded in protecting, huddled clumps to ward off trespassers. No lights showed through the deep caverns of the windows, but one faint gleam flickered above the entrance door. "Whew!" cried Landon, jumping from his seat with a thud on the stone terrace, "I won't go through that woods again! I'll go home in an aeroplane,--and I'm ready to go now!" "So am I," said Milly, in a quivering, tearful voice. "Oh, Wynne, why did we ever come?" "Now, now," cheered Braye, "keep your heads, it's all right. Only these confounded shadows make it impossible to know just where we're at. Here's the house, and by jinks, it's built of marble!" "Of course," said the Professor, who was curiously feeling of the old ivy-grown stone, "this is the marble country, you know. Vermont marble was plenty enough when this house was put up." "Let's get in," begged Vernie. "It isn't as much fun as I thought it would be." They went, in a close group, up a short flight of broad marble steps and reached a wide portico, in the centre of which was a spacious vestibule indented into the building, and which stood within the main wall. Though the walls of the house were of marble, those of this vestibule were of panelled mahogany, and the entrance doorway was flanked on either side by large bronze columns, which stood half within and half without the mahogany wall. "Some house!" exclaimed Tracy, in admiration of the beautiful details, which though worn and blackened by time, were of antique grandeur. "These bronze doors must have come from Italy. They're marvellous. I'm glad I came." "Oh, do get in, Wynne," wailed Milly. "You can examine the house to-morrow. I _wish_ we hadn't come!" Landon was about to make search for knocker or bell, when one of the big bronze doors swung open, and a man peered out. "You folks here?" he said, a bit unnecessarily. "Bring another lamp, Hester." "Yes, we're here," Landon assured him, "and we want to get in out of the wet!" "Rainin'?" and the man stepped out of the door to look, blocking all ingress. "No! that's a figure of speech!" Landon's nerves were on edge. "Open that door,--the other one,--let us in!" "Go on in, who's henderin' you?" and the indifferent host stepped out of the way. Landon went in first and Braye followed, as the others crowded after. At first they could see only a gloomy cavernous hall, its darkness accentuated by one small lamp on a table. "Thought I wouldn't light up till you got here," and the man who had admitted them came in and closed the door. "I'm Stebbins, and here's the keys. This is the house you've took, and Hester here will look after you. I'll be goin'."