The Road to Dumbiedykes 



miss it entirely as you pass. Indeed, 

 were it not for the fact that it is 

 the subject of an annual overhauling, 

 and its interior kept in readiness for 

 guests who may not find accommoda- 

 tion elsewhere upon the property of 

 which it is now a more or less unne- 

 cessary part the porches, windows, 

 roof and floors would in due course 

 fall a prey to the operation of the 

 natural laws that work unceasingly in 

 the physical world. 



With my own hands, some years 

 ago, I set some of the roots that now 

 supply leafy cover to those walls, and 

 for this act I am sure that the spirit 

 that dwells within is duly grateful. 

 I speak thus because it was long since 

 vacated by once happy, frugal and 

 industrious tenants, and possesses now 

 no regular occupants. I am always 

 sensible of some unseen presence in 

 such cases. Not that I know or care 

 anything particularly about occult 

 theories, for they do not specially 



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