"A house full and a hole full--but you can't catch a bowlful," repeated Laddie slowly. "That's a good riddle!" he announced, after thinking it over, and I guess he ought to know, as he asked a great many of them.

They had a jolly time at the meal, even if it was gotten up in a hurry, and then, just as the children were going out to play again, Daddy Bunker remarked:

"You haven't yet told us, Father, what brought you away from Great Hedge."

"No, I haven't, but I will," said Grandpa Ford.

Great Hedge, I might say, was the name of a large estate Grandpa Ford had bought to live on not a great while before. It was just outside the city of Tarrington, in New York State, and was a fine, big country estate.

Grandpa Ford looked around the room. He saw Russ and Rose over by the sideboard, each taking a cookie to eat out in the yard. The other little Bunkers had already run out, for it was not yet dark.

"As soon as they go I'll tell you why I came away from Great Hedge,"

said Grandpa Ford in a low voice to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. "It's something of a mystery, and I don't want the children to become frightened, especially as they may go up there," he went on. "I'll tell you when they go out."

CHAPTER III

SOMETHING QUEER

Russ Bunker took a cookie from the dish on the sideboard, handed one to Rose, and then the two children went out on the porch. Rose was just going to run along to find Vi, who had taken her j.a.panese doll to play with, when Russ caught his sister by her dress.

"Wait a minute, Rose."

"What for?" she asked.

"Hush!" went on Russ. "Not so loud. Didn't you hear what Grandpa Ford said?"

"I didn't listen," admitted Rose. "I wanted to see if there were any mola.s.ses cookies, but they're all sugar. What was it?" and Rose, too, talked very low.

They were now out on the side porch, under the dining-room windows, which were open, for, as I have said, it was warm October weather.

"He said there was something queer about Great Hedge, where he lives with Grandma," went on Russ. "He didn't want us to hear, 'cause I heard him tell Daddy and Mother so. But we can hear out here if we listen.

Let's keep still, and maybe we can tell what it is."

"But that won't be nice," protested Rose. "Mother said we shouldn't peep through keyholes, or listen behind doors."

"There isn't any keyhole here," said Russ. "And we're not behind a door, either."

"Well, but----" But Rose could think of nothing else to say. Besides, just then, she heard her grandfather's voice. He was speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker, and saying:

"Yes, it certainly is very strange. It's quite a puzzle to me--a riddle, I suppose Laddie would call it. But I don't want the children to know anything about it."

"There, you see!" exclaimed Russ in a whisper. "It's only a riddle he is going to tell. We can listen to it, and have some fun. We won't tell what the answer is when he asks us. We'll make believe we don't know."

"Well, if it's only a riddle, I guess it's all right to listen to it,"

agreed Rose.

So the two eldest Bunker children crouched down on the side porch, under the dining-room windows, and listened to the talk that was going on inside. Of course this was not right, but they did not know any better, especially after Grandpa Ford spoke about a "riddle."

And so it came about that Rose and Russ heard what it was not intended they should hear.

"You know," went on Grandpa Ford, as Russ and Rose listened outside, "that I bought Great Hedge Estate from a Mr. James Ripley, who lives near here."

"Yes, I know that," said Daddy Bunker. "Well, you like it, don't you, Father?"

"Quite well. Your mother likes it, too. It is a large farm, as you know, and there is a big stretch of woods, as well as land where I can raise fruits and vegetables. There are meadows for grazing, and fields for corn, hay and oats. Great Hedge is a fine place, and your mother and I like it there very much.

"We were a bit lonesome, at first, as it is large, but we hope to get over that part in a little while.

"What brought me down here is to see Mr. Ripley, and find out something about the place he sold me. I must find out something about Great Hedge."

"Here is where the riddle comes in," said Russ in a whisper to his sister. "We must listen hard now."

"What do you want to find out about Great Hedge, Father?" asked Daddy Bunker. "Do you think you paid too much for it?"

"No, I got it very cheap. But there is something queer about it, and I want to find out if Mr. Ripley can tell me what it is."

"Something queer?" repeated Mrs. Bunker.

"Yes, a sort of mystery," went on Grandpa Ford. "It's a puzzle to me. A riddle I should call it if I were Laddie. By the way, I hope the children don't hear me tell this, or they might be frightened."

"No, they have all gone out to play," said Mrs. Bunker. "They can not hear you."

"So there is something wrong about Great Hedge, is there?" asked Daddy Bunker. "By the way," he went on, "I have never been there, but I suppose it is called that because it has a big hedge around it."

"That is it," said Grandpa Ford. "All around the house, enclosing it like a fence, is a big, thick hedge. It is green and pretty in summer, but bare and brown in the winter. However, it keeps off the north wind, so I rather like it. In the summer it shades the house and makes it cool. Yes, the hedge gives the name to the place.

"But now I must tell you what is queer about it--the mystery or the puzzle. And I don't want you or the children to be alarmed."

"Why should we?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

"Well, most persons are frightened by _ghosts_," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.

"Father, you don't mean to tell me you believe in _ghosts_!" cried Daddy Bunker.

"Of course not!" answered his stepfather. "There aren't any such things as ghosts, and, naturally, I don't believe in them. But I know that some people do, and children might be frightened if they heard the name."

"Do you hear what he says?" whispered Rose to her brother.

"Yes. But I'm not frightened. Are you?"

"Nope. What's a ghost, anyhow, Russ?"

"Oh, it's something white that comes in the dark and scares you."