Green Door

Wilkins Freeman Mary E.

Description

For as long as she can remember, a young girl named Letitia has been transfixed by the mysterious green door tucked away in a nook of her family home. She longs to open it and find out what's behind it, but her aunt urges her not to. Will Letitia be able to resist the pull of the green door?

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776589814
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE GREEN DOOR
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MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN
 
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The Green Door First published in 1910 Epub ISBN 978-1-77658-981-4 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77658-982-1 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
The Green Door
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Letitia lived in the same house where her grandmother and hergreat-grandmother had lived and died. Her own parents died when shewas very young, and she had come there to live with her Great-auntPeggy. Her Great-aunt Peggy was her grandfather's sister, and was avery old woman. However, she was very active and bright, and goodcompany for Letitia. That was fortunate, because there were no littlegirls of Letitia's age nearer than a mile. The one maid-servant whomAunt Peggy kept was older than she, and had chronic rheumatism in theright foot and left shoulder-blade, which affected her temper.
Letitia's Great-aunt Peggy used to play grace-hoops with her, anddominoes and checkers, and even dolls. Sometimes it was hard forLetitia to realize that she was not another little girl. Her AuntPeggy was very kind to her and fond of her, and took care of her aswell as her own mother could have done. Letitia had all the care andcomforts and pleasant society that she really needed, but she was nota very contented little girl. She was naturally rather idle, and herAunt Peggy, who was a wise old woman and believed thoroughly in theproverb about Satan and idle hands, would keep her always busy atsomething.
If she were not playing, she had to sew or study or dust, or read astent in a story-book. Letitia had very nice story-books, but she wasnot particularly fond of reading. She liked best of anything to sitquite idle, and plan what she would like to do if she could have herwish—and that her Aunt Peggy would not allow.
Letitia was not satisfied with her dolls and little treasures. Shewanted new ones. She wanted fine clothes like one little girl, andplenty of candy like another. When Letitia went to school she alwayscame home more dissatisfied. She wanted her room newly furnished, andthought the furniture in the whole house very shabby. She disliked torise so early in the morning. She did not like to take a walk everyday, and besides everything else to make her discontented, there wasthe little green door, which she must never open and pass through.
The house where Letitia lived was, of course, a very old one. It hada roof, saggy and mossy, gray shingles in the walls, lilac busheshalf hiding the great windows, and a well-sweep in the yard. It wasquite a large house, and there were sheds and a great barn attachedto it, but they were all on the side. At the back of the house thefields stretched away for acres, and there were no outbuildings. Thelittle green door was at the very back of the house, toward thefields, in a room opening out of the kitchen. It was called thecheese-room, because Letitia's grandmother, who had made cheeses, hadkept them there. She fancied she could smell cheese, though none hadbeen there for years, and it was used now only for a lumber-room. Shealways sniffed hard for cheese, and then she eyed the little greendoor with wonder and longing. It was a small green door, scarcelyhigher than her head. A grown person could not have passed throughwithout stooping almost double. It was very narrow, too, and no onewho was not slender could have squeezed through it. In this doorthere was a little black keyhole, with no key in it, but it wasalways locked. Letitia knew that her Aunt Peggy kept the key in somevery safe place, but she would never show it to her, nor unlock thedoor.
"It is not best for you, my dear," she always replied, when Letitiateased her; and when Letitia begged only to know why she could not goout of the door, she made the same reply, "It is not best for you, mydear."
Sometimes, when Aunt Peggy was not by, Letitia would tease the oldmaid-servant about the little green door, but she always seemed bothcross and stupid, and gave her no satisfaction. She even seemed tothink there was no little green door there; but that was nonsense,because Letitia knew there was. Her curiosity grew greater andgreater; she took every chance she could get to steal into thecheese-room and shake the door softly, but it was always locked. Sheeven tried to look through the key-hole, but she could see nothing.One thing puzzled her more than all, and that was that the littlegreen door was on the inside of the house only, and not on theoutside. When Letitia went out in the field behind the house, therewas nothing but the blank wall to be seen. There was no sign of adoor in it. But the cheese-room was certainly the last room in thehouse, and the little green door was in the rear wall. When Letitiaasked her Great-aunt Peggy to explain that, she only got the sameanswer:
"It is not best for you to know, my dear."
Letitia studied the little green door more than she studied herlesson-books, but she never got any nearer the solution of themystery, until one Sunday morning in January. It was a very cold day,and she had begged hard to stay home from church. Her Aunt Peggy andthe maid-servant, old as they were, were going, but Letitia shiveredand coughed a little and pleaded, and finally had her own way.
"But you must sit down quietly," charged Aunt Peggy, "and you mustlearn your texts, to repeat to me when I get home."