like a fence, is a big, thick hedge. It is green and pretty in summer,
but bare and brown in the winter. However, it keeps off the north wind,
so I rather like it. In the summer it shades the house and makes it
cool. Yes, the hedge gives the name to the place.

"But now I must tell you what is queer about it--the mystery or the
puzzle. And I don't want you or the children to be alarmed."

"Why should we?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Well, most persons are frightened by _ghosts_," said Grandpa Ford with
a laugh.

"Father, you don't mean to tell me you believe in _ghosts_!" cried Daddy
Bunker.

"Of course not!" answered his stepfather. "There aren't any such things
as ghosts, and, naturally, I don't believe in them. But I know that some
people do, and children might be frightened if they heard the name."

"Do you hear what he says?" whispered Rose to her brother.

"Yes. But I'm not frightened. Are you?"

"Nope. What's a ghost, anyhow, Russ?"

"Oh, it's something white that comes in the dark and scares you."

"Well, it isn't dark now," went on the little girl, "so we're all right.
And at night, when it is dark, we go to bed, so I don't guess we'll see