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 THE CHILDREN IN THE LITTLE OLD RED HOUSE

CHAPTER I

THE LANE AND THE CHILDREN

THE man jogging along leisurely reined his horse up with such a sudden jerk that Bonnie looked around with reproachful eyes. The road had been a rather lonely one except for the beautiful old trees standing at the roadside, tall Lombardy poplars and graceful willows that had been growing for years in nature's own fashion. This had once been just a lane to cut off a rather long point in the road, but it had grown into a recognized thoroughfare at this period. The man had not been through it before, and now a curious sound startled him, the sound of a wailing chorus, and he espied a small cottage ahead of him, a little old house that had once been painted red, but was now weather-beaten and dingy.