The Story of the Big Front Door | Page 2

account they were cautioned not to be noisy at their play. After
her death the house was left closed and unoccupied, but hardly more
silent than before. An air of mystery still hung about the place; the
children when they passed peeped in at the flowers alone in their glory,
and spoke softly as though even yet their owner might be disturbed.

This was in the early spring; as the summer wore on this garden grew
more and more irresistible. Other playgrounds lost their charm to the
eyes that looked in at the long waving grass and the pleasant shady
places under the apple trees.
"Let's play Robin Hood," Bess proposed one morning as they sat in a
row on the fence.
Carl and Louise received the idea with enthusiasm, and Ikey listened in
silent admiration as the details of the fascinating game were unfolded.
The Hazeltine children had from their babyhood been in the habit of
making plays of their favorite stories, but it seemed to Ikey immensely
clever; so while the others argued over who should take this part and
who that, he joyfully accepted whatever was offered him.
He did not fare so badly either, for being plump and rosy he was
allowed to personate the jolly Friar Tuck. Robin Hood fell naturally to
Carl as the oldest and the leader, Bess became Little John, Louise
appeared by turns as Allan-a-Dale and the sheriff of Nottingham, and
little Helen was occasionally pressed into service as Maid Marian. Who
first thought of turning the deserted garden into Sherwood forest no one
could ever remember, but as they sat on the fence that morning with the
waving sea of grass below them, somebody began
"One for the money, Two for the show,..."
and away they all went. Some minutes later, Mrs. Ford, glancing from
her window, wondered what had become of the children.
So the fun began and continued through the long summer days, when
grown people stayed indoors and wondered what the children found to
do out in the heat from morning till night. But in that distant corner of
the garden, where, under the shelter of a crooked apple tree, the forest
rovers had their trysting place, the weather was never too warm. The
unoccupied house became transformed into Nottingham castle, and was
never approached without delicious thrills of terror. Excitement ran
high on the day when Robin was released from the jail--otherwise a

small rustic arbor--by his trusty followers.
There was simply no end to the fun, and the secrecy with which it was
carried on helped to deepen the interest. The climax was reached when
preparations were begun for King Richard's banquet.
As usual, it originated with Bess, when she heard that a favorite cousin,
a boy about Carl's age, was coming to visit them for a few days.
"Aleck will make a very good King Richard," said Louise, when the
matter was under discussion, "and we can pretend that he is just back
from the Holy Land."
It was decided that this must be a real feast, not merely an occasion of
pepper grass and cookies, so their combined funds were carefully laid
out at the corner confectionery. Many articles supposed to be necessary
to the comfort of the royal guest were smuggled into the garden, and
everything was in readiness for his arrival on the next day, when Ikey
made his startling discovery.
It had never occurred to them that some one might come to live in the
Brown house; they were quite overwhelmed by it, and for more than an
hour they sat under the syringa bushes peeping through at their lost
domain. No one had much to say. Bess was gazing sadly at her roll of
cambric which was to have done duty as suits of Lincoln green for the
foresters, and Ikey was thinking of the fur rug and the clothes-pins,
when Carl proposed a raid for the recovery of their possessions. "The
girls can wait on the fence and take the things as we bring them," he
said.
This promised a little excitement, so on the very spot from which they
had made their first entrance into Sherwood forest, Bess and Louise
waited while the boys dropped down and disappeared behind the
bushes. In a few minutes they came rushing back empty handed, to
report that not a trace of anything was to be found, and that a man with
a scythe was at work on the other side of the garden cutting down the
grass.

* * * * *
It was very quiet in the neighborhood that afternoon. There were no
children to be seen anywhere, and on the broad piazza of the house
where the Hazeltines lived the chairs and settees, with here and there a
gay cushion, appeared