"I don't want to," called back Alcinda. "I'll wait out here for you."
"You don't know what you're missing," Esther Ann called back, trying once more to persuade her.
"I'll wait for you here," repeated Alcinda taking up her position on the horse block by the gate.
"All right," responded Esther Ann, and opened the door which gave easily as she turned the knob.
The four little girls found themselves in a dingy kitchen whose belongings remained as they had been left years before. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling; dust was everywhere. The stove rusty and falling to pieces, still held one or two pots and pans. There was crockery on the dresser, and a lamp on the table.
Esther Ann led the way to the next room. "I don't think this one is a bit interesting," she made the remark as she penetrated further.
"Do you think we ought to go?" whispered Edna to Reliance, as these two lagged a little in the rear.
"Why not? Anyone can come in if it belongs to no one, and they say it doesn't belong to a soul. Nobody lives here and why haven't we a right as well as the rest of the world?"
This argument satisfied Edna and she followed along through the deserted rooms, catching sight of a moth-eaten cover here, a bunch of withered flowers there. Books, long untouched, lay half open on a table in one room, the bed was still unmade in another, and everything was confusion.
"Isn't it lovely and spooky?" said Esther Ann, tingling with excitement. "I'm going to see what is in those bureau drawers."