“I almost wonder at you, Jill, for being so set against it.  I’m sure it’s a fine house and cost a good deal of money.  There must be some drawback that doesn’t show.  I hope It isn’t haunted.”

“That’s it, Aunt Jerusha; it’s haunted.  Several uncomfortable demons have taken possession of it and Jill isn’t able to exorcise them.  It was a great grief to me at first, and I made a bargain with Jill to keep still about them, but it is an open secret now and she may tell you everything.”

[Illustration:  SHELVES IN THE MIDDLE, CUPBOARDS ABOVE AND BELOW.]

“Very well.  I can easily explain the mystery.  The mischief began with the evil spirits of Ignorance and Incompetence.  The carpenter who planned the house knew nothing about our tastes or needs, and the builder was unable to make a comfortable flight of stairs, safe chimneys, smooth floors or tight windows.  After these two came another pair, worse than the first—­Ostentation and Avarice.  They tried to make a grand display and at the same time a large profit on the job.  How can I exorcise such demons as these except by tearing down the house?”

“Couldn’t you sell it, dear?  What seem demons to you might appear like angels of light to some one else,” said Aunt Jerusha.

“You are an angel of light to me, Aunt Jerusha,” said Jack.  “But I might have known you would stand up for my house.”

“Aunt Jerusha, there isn’t a closet in the whole establishment,” said Jill, solemnly, knowing that defect to be an architectural sin which even her aunt’s broad charity would fail to cover.

“Oh, Jill! where have you laid your conscience?  I can’t stay to hear my house abused.  Please show Aunt Jerusha the pantry and the china-closet and I will flee to the office.”

“Why, yes, to be sure you have a very nice buttery and china-cupboard.”

“I meant good, generous closets for the chambers.  Of course there’s a pantry, but I don’t think the arrangement of shelves, drawers and cupboards is very convenient.”

“It seems very liberal.”

“Yes, but would you advise me to have the pantry in the new house like it?”

“Well, no, dear; since you asked me, I wouldn’t.  It is possible to have too many conveniences even in a pantry.  It is a good plan to have a few cupboards to keep some things from the dust and others from the light, but most of our raw materials now-a-days come in tight boxes or cans, and I find them more handy standing on the shelves than shut up in drawers.  I don’t suppose it would be so in your case, dear, but a drawer sometimes hides very slovenly habits.  It is so easy to drop an untidy thing into a drawer and shove it out of sight.  These large wooden boxes, all built in with their covers and handles, look nice and handy, but it’s hard to clean them out.  I would rather have good wide shelves and light movable tin boxes like those used in the groceries.  You could buy them, I suppose, but I had mine made at the tin-shop to fit the shelves.  I can take them out and wash them any time, and they never get musty, as wooden boxes will, even with the best of care.  But you mustn’t be biased by my old-fashioned notions.”