“Now first,” she said in a practical voice, “let’s go off a little distance—so that I can show you the whole lay of the land.”
The six of them returned almost to the spot where they had first caught sight of the Little House.
“I’m going to start by telling you a little of the history of the house,” Maida began importantly. “This is the old Westabrook farmhouse and my father was born here; and his father and his father. It was built in 1645 and Westabrooks have lived in it from that day to this.”
“Oh Maida!” Rosie said in an awed tone, “isn’t that wonderful! Is it just the same as it was then?”
“No, indeed,” Maida answered. “Almost every generation of Westabrooks added something to the original house. The barn was built later and also all those little additions—we call them the Annex—which connect the house with the barn, but it was my father who made the sides of them all windows.”
“Who put the little house in the tree?” Dicky asked.
“My grandfather.”
“Wasn’t it wonderful that they left the tree!” Laura commented.
“Yes. You see my grandmother loved that big old tree dearly and so they saved it for her. Now where shall we go first?”
“Up the tree!” everybody answered.