“Why, Dana Dene is the name of our place, you know. Not only the house, but the whole estate.”
“Yes’m; I know it. But what does Dene mean? Just as a word?”
“Oh, well, it doesn’t mean anything nowadays, just as a word. But in old times, long ago, it meant den or cave.”
“Well, this house isn’t a cave.”
“No,” said Miss Rachel, laughing. “We’re not cave-dwellers. But long ago, there was another house where this stands now. You know, this estate has been in our family for many generations.”
“And was the other house a cave?” asked Dick, with vague visions of primitive ancestors floating through his mind.
“No, of course not! The name cave came from the fact that there was a deep den or cave somewhere on the place.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know, Dicky. It may be only tradition, or there may have been a real cave, now filled up or covered over. I suppose it is in the woodland part, if it’s anywhere.”
“But it must be somewhere, Aunt Rachel,” persisted Dick. “If they, my great-grand-fathers, I mean, named the place Dana Dene because of a big den, the den must be here yet.”